Sherdog’s Top 10Sherdog’s Top 10: UFC Fight Night Main Events
No. 6
UFC Fight Night 81
Jan. 17, 2016 | Boston
The oft-injured Cruz reclaimed the title he never lost with a split decision over Dillashaw in the UFC Fight Night 81 headliner at the TD Garden. Scores were 48-47 and 49-46 for Cruz, 49-46 for Dillashaw. Together, they produced a 25-minute display of marvelous technique and fortitude.
Cruz shook off the rust from another extended injury-induced layoff -- he had fought just once in the previous 1,569 days -- and got down to business with surgical counterpunches and elusive movement. Dillashaw was left to throw single shots and whiffed often during many of the early exchanges, as the Alliance MMA cornerstone bobbed, weaved and circled out of danger. Cruz supplemented his work on the feet with takedowns in the second, third and fourth rounds, as he managed to ground a fighter who had never before been taken down in UFC competition.
Despite the difficulties Cruz presented for him, Dillashaw kept applying the pressure. He shifted the momentum in his favor in the fourth round, where he connected with a crippling leg kick, delivered a takedown of his own and punished Cruz in the clinch. Dillashaw picked up where he left off in the fifth, as he followed a clean right hand upstairs with a partially blocked head kick. With Cruz compromised by an apparent foot injury, Dillashaw stayed busy down the stretch but failed to do enough to carry the scorecards.
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