4. Dominick Cruz disappoints
It seems [autotag]Dominick Cruz[/autotag] did not earn himself many new fans with his post-fight conduct after losing to Cejudo in a semi-controversial manner.
The performance by Cruz wasn’t what hurt him most. He was facing a ridiculously steep uphill climb fighting Cejudo after the longest layoff of his career, and although it would’ve been nice to see a finish with absolutely no drama, it was hard to envision Cruz winning that fight, anyway.
The big story coming out of the fight was Cruz’s accusations toward referee Keith Peterson. In addition to blaming him for making “100 percent” the wrong call to wave it off when he did, Cruz said Peterson “smelled like alcohol and cigarettes” while he was in the octagon. That’s not something you’d hear out of many fighters.
In the same breath as claiming he wasn’t making excuses, Cruz insinuated Peterson wasn’t in a proper state of mind while officiating. That’s not a claim to throw out there lightheartedly, and Cruz may be forced to present evidence or apologize for his comments.
Time will tell, but Cruz didn’t put himself in the best light with his reaction. He received so much praise for how he handled his loss to Cody Garbrandt in December 2016, and he may have just cost himself a lot of that good will.
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