Legend
Legends are confronted with two horrible truths. The first is that what really occurred or some aspect of their rise to notoriety may be skewed by the naysayers and those challenging the legacy of the man. The second is that they ultimately come up against odds that are too great and stand in disbelief of a great loss of self and legacy. Achilles ultimately succumbed to an arrow by Paris to the heal, that halted a warrior blessed by the Gods. In the Pantheon of MMA legends Dominick has put his stamp forever at the 135lb weight class and cemented the status as the warrior with era shifting footwork. Injury and age will bring the best down and shift them to another phase of their lives. However, the fans and other fighters don’t get to tell the baddest man on the planet when he is done. Only he will make that determination. In an organization where no fight is an easy fight and contenders are margins of separation from being crowned king of their division, Dominick Cruz will dominate again.
Casey Kenny is the first rung on the ladder in Mortal Kombat, using the video game analogy, Dominick has quite the climb to get back in the champions seat, but it’s a road that he gladly shares with fight fans, coaches, and training partners. Along the way there will be blood, sweat, and more blood to make the canvas slick and sticky at the same time. His victims will lay at his feet staring up blankly, as if their souls were drained from their bodies. This climb is against the Naysayers, against those who believe they could match the man of a thousand battles and a lifetime of achieving the great test of man to ever come into existence. Expect the man of legend, expect the fight of your life, and expect to understand that no one retires you except you.
Whether you dine on leather or canvas that is your choice, step in the lion’s den, even with an older lion and expect those teeth to be equally as sharp as a juvenile. With a fight IQ of highest order you will invariably be exposed and confronted with nightmare-like exchanges that will have you counting your blessings if you survive and conversing with your ancestors if you don’t. To enter the office of the martial artist is to acknowledge that you may not leave once the cage is locked. Mechanisms are in place to ensure the highest amount of safety for the combatants, but rest assured that the danger lingers like a ghoul ready to devour it’s quarry.
The only way Gladiators used to retire was earning their freedom after winning the wooden sword or the Rudis. Just like his wrestling shoes the mantle of winning his freedom to retire on his terms and in a way aligned with his warrior spirit is once again getting the UFC belt strapped across his waist after knocking the best off of the Pyramid he built with precision and science. The Fibonacci sequence of stones (in Dominick’s case Team Alpha Male bodies) represent the foundation of the original pyramid. The second was his biggest, because of his return to the octagon being questioned, but this next pyramid will be his Orion’s belt in the Stars of MMA history.
