After being away from the action for about 30 months, the fighting community was excited to witness the return of Dominick Cruz to the Octagon. He was all set to lock horns against the #9 bantamweight contender, Rob Font, at UFC Seattle, scheduled for February 22. This was the perfect fight to headline the UFC’s return to Seattle for the first time since 2013. But despair engulfed the world of mixed martial arts as the news of ‘The Dominator’ pulling out of the fight overturned the internet. 

But why did the former bantamweight champion pull out of the fight? Does it have to do something with the curse of injuries that has spoiled his plans in the past? Let’s find out all about the former WEC champion’s withdrawal. 

Did Dominick Cruz get an injury before UFC Fight Night 52 against Rob Font?

Cageside Press shocked the fighting community on 5 February 2025 by breaking the news of Cruz’s withdrawal from the co-main event of UFC Seattle. And it was indeed because he reportedly suffered an injury while training for the event. The former 2-time bantamweight champion’s MMA career has been laden with injuries that have not only forced him to pull out of his matches but also vacate the bantamweight throne. 

His troubles began in December 2011 when he was coaching on TUF against Urijah Faber and a torn ACL forced him out of the rubber match against Faber. He did undergo surgery to replace his damaged ACL. However, that was a massive failure. Of course, transplanting a ligament from a cadaver is considered a fairly simple process in the medical world. But it’s often the post-surgical conditions that determine if the procedure was a successful one or not. And Cruz’s body did not accept the graft. To repair the damage, he went through another surgery in 2012. 

While Cruz’s ACL began to heal itself, ‘The Dominator’ faced more trouble in 2014. He was set to fight Renan Barao at UFC 169, but he had torn his groin and had to pull out of the bout. He had to vacate his bantamweight championship belt and let Faber fight for the reigns against Barao. Just when he started making waves again in the fighting realm, he tore the ACL on his other knee in 2014.

Now, fighting Rob Font would have given him a chance to redeem himself from the KO defeat he faced against Marlon Vera in 2022. But alas! Not everything goes according to plan. While the details of his injury are yet to be revealed, the internet is bustling with one more discussion regarding Dominick Cruz.

Has Dominick Cruz retired from UFC?

Well, the fight against Font would have been Cruz’s final battle in the Octagon. During a conversation with Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen on ESPN MMA’s Good Guy/Bad Guy show, Cruz was asked if UFC Fight Night 252 was actually his last battle in the UFC. Well, it turned out that it was, in fact, his retirement fight.

The former bantamweight champion replied, “For me, it is. Not because of my mentality, not because of my skillset. Yeah, I lost my last fight, but I was in that fight every minute of the fight. When I got finished, I was going for the kill, which got me hurt. It wasn’t one of those situations where I was bowing out of the fight. It was that I was in the fight trying to kill the guy, and I hurt myself, and that led to the finish eventually.”

Cruz would have entered the co-main event at UFC Fight Night 252 with a professional MMA record of 24-4-0. Nevertheless, his strength got him the UFC bantamweight belt in his Octagon debut against Faber at UFC 132. He went on to defeat Demetrious Johnson before vacating his belt. But a win over TJ Dillashaw got him the belt once again. Then, a bout against  Cody Garbrandt saw him lose for the first time. As of now, all we can expect is for ‘The Dominator’ to recover and win his retirement fight. 

What do you think of the injury-laden career of ‘The Dominator’? When do you think he’d return to fight his retirement fight and hang up his gloves for good? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.