UFC 132 RESULTS: Dominick Cruz edges Urijah Faber to retain UFC Bantamweight Title

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Dominick Cruz had a chip on his shoulder heading into UFC 132, with the name Urijah Faber firmly etched as the only man to defeat him in his professional MMA career. But when Bruce Buffer read scores of 50-45, 49-46, 48-47 after their 25-minute fight in Las Vegas, Cruz officially avenged that loss and made the first defense of the UFC Bantamweight Title.

Faber said after that he felt like he won the fight, but also felt it could have gone either way, and he didn't have enough output and didn't finish Cruz to take the belt. It was an extremely close fight that came down to how the judges were going to score the action.

The first two rounds saw Cruz setting the pace with typical Dominick Cruz movement, hopping side to side and delivering strikes and leg kicks while trying to get out of the way of counters. However, in the opening rounds, Faber knocked Cruz down with punches on multiple occasions. In fact, Faber's strikes were clearly the more damaging in exchanges, but he wasn't able to follow up and Cruz landed more strikes overall.

Cruz controlled the third round for the most part as Faber wasn't able to get much to land, and didn't throw a ton either. However, he came back in the fourth and looked to win that round with another knockdown punch and more damage delivered in close.

Throughout the fight, each fighter had gotten the other to the canvas, but it was always in brief intervals as they were both able to scramble and get to their feet without any damage being done. That continued in the fifth and final round, but it was Cruz continually forcing Faber to scramble and putting him on the ground, and it was a round that seemed to seal the title defense for him.

Of course, the judges came in with wildly varying scores, with one judge giving Cruz three rounds, one giving him four and judge Sal D'Amato not seeing any round for Faber in the fight. Regardless of a questionable 50-45, Cruz made a successful UFC debut, and he remains the UFC Bantamweight Champion.

Penick's Analysis: The 50-45 score is ridiculous. Faber at the very least should have been given that first round, and the fourth should have been more clearly his as well. The second and third were close, and the fifth was very much Cruz's, but for Faber to not get one round on D'Amato's scorecard isn't right. This is part of what is so frustrating about watching Dominick Cruz's fights. He moves a lot, and throws a lot of punches and kicks, but he didn't damage Faber with any of it. Meanwhile, Faber knocked him down on multiple occasions. Faber let the fight get away from him in the fifth, but it didn't matter because Cruz's movement and speed made it a necessity for Faber to finish the fight in order to win, as it was looking clear that Cruz's perceived activity would give him the edge for the judges. It was still a great title fight, and I'd love to see a rubber match, but with Faber losing his fourth straight title fight, I just don't know what the next move is for him from the perspective of the UFC. He needed to attack more when he had Cruz hurt, and in going all 25 minutes it was going to be hard for him to get the nod in this one. Still, Cruz made a successful debut against a very good opponent in Faber, and avenged the only loss on his record. That's a huge win for him.

Ryo Piranha Chonan  Dan The Sandman Christison  Logan The Pink Pounder Clark  Steve The Snake Claveau  Rich No Love Clementi