Dominick Cruz isn’t the type to let bygones be bygones. At Noche UFC, Edgar Cháirez went toe to toe with Daniel Lacerda but the resulting no-contest left a sour taste in Cruz’s mouth. Many believe that the controversial stoppage by referee Chris Tognoni was premature and could’ve been more thoughtful.

Cruz himself has been inside the octagon before. He knows the ins and outs of the fight. Now that he sits at the desk as an analyst for Noche UFC, he can provide the fans with a third-person POV that has the eyes of a professional. And this professional had things to say about Tognoni.

Dominick Cruz doesn’t mince his words

The stoppage came about in the very first round. Dominick Cruz’s words express the views of a part of the MMA fandom as well as Lacerda, who protested the move right away. Cruz wanted refs to do their job correctly when it’s all they have to do.

At 3:47, Tognoni checked Lacerda’s arm as he was being choked into submission. The guillotine choke fiercely executed by Cháirez had his opponent pinned and when the ref checked his arm, it looked like it had gone limp. However, a closer inspection ruled otherwise, and turns out Lacerda wasn’t completely out of it just yet.

“I knew what it looked like from here. He was closer than me. What do you not know? You have one job,” Cruz said.

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He remained fully conscious and in a fighting spirit even after Cháirez appeared to win. Tognoni faced condemnation from fans and fighters alike because now, the two fighters have no clear resolution to rely on. Nobody won, and just about everyone lost. For Cruz however, the story might have a deeper connotation than it appears.

Cruz is no stranger to premature stoppages

At UFC 249 in 2020, ‘The Dominator’ was all set to fight Henry Cejudo. The fight became pretty brutal when Cruz went crashing into the mat after a knee strike from Cejudo. A barrage of fists came next as the former bantamweight champion tried to regain his footing but the fight was called off by referee Keith Peterson.

“I mean I’m not happy with the stoppage obviously because I specifically asked the ref to let me go ‘til I was out and I was standing up,” Cruz remarked after the fight. “If I stayed on the floor, I get it. But I’m working my way up. I was definitely still aware of what was going on. Now I get there were unanswered shots, that’s part of a fight but if I’m standing up to my feet, I’m in the fight.”

Fans can see that Cruz may have had a flashback to his past fights when the Cháirez vs. Lacerda match was called off. The submission was replayed by the Nevada Athletic Commission before the no-contest decision was made. The final decision has left both fighters hanging. Will there be a rematch that provides a more conclusive ending? It seems fans have been left as high and dry as the fighters themselves, at least for now.

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