Henry Cejudo thinks Dominick Cruz was en route to a decisive win over Marlon Vera before he got finished.
Cruz (24-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) was knocked out by Vera (22-7-1 MMA, 14-6 UFC) in Round 4 of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 41 headliner in San Diego, where the judges had him up two rounds to one heading into the championship rounds.
Cejudo (16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC), who posted a live reaction video on his YouTube channel, says Cruz was firmly in control and he wasn’t impressed by “Chito’s” performance.
“That’s the name of the game,” Cejudo said. “Dominick was winning the fight for four rounds to zero before he got clipped with that head kick. ‘Chito’ was never in trouble, but he was getting outstriked, you see what I’m saying?
“Yeah, he knocked him out. But if you look at the whole fight, Dominick was peppering that dude. But ‘Chito’ did win.”
Cejudo, whose most recent fight came in a knockout win over Cruz at UFC 249 to retain his bantamweight title, says Vera was able to exploit the same defensive tendency Cruz has as he did.
“Dominic (sic) was easily wining that fight (4-0) he leans the head to heavy and it’s the same way I knocked him out too. Chito won but I’m not impressed by his performance. Going back to much and getting point fought the whole fight. Chito could have finish him a couple times and didn’t.”
Dominic was easily wining that fight(4-0) he leans the head to heavy and it’s the same way I knocked him out too. Chito won but I’m not impressed by his performance. Going back to much and getting point fought the whole fight. Chito could have finish him a couple times and didnt
— Henry Cejudo (@HenryCejudo) August 14, 2022
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