2. Dominick Cruz Vs. Renan Barao UFC 169
The UFCs bantamweight division was stagnating prior to the announcement that Dominick Cruz, the 135-lbs champion, would be making his long awaited return. Barao had already made two defences of his UFC interim championship in impressive style with a submission win over dangerous striker Michael McDonald and a stunning spinning back kick TKO of Eddie Wineland. With Cruz still officially the champion despite not having fought since October 2011 after being side-lined for two years with a recurring ACL injury, many believe that the American should be stripped of his title, allowing Barao to finally be named the undisputed champion. There was a sense that having already put the bantamweight division on ice for an inordinate amount of time waiting for the return of Cruz, it would be in the UFCs best interests to wait a little longer for the champion rather than cutting their loses. Finally Dominick was cleared to fight and the unification of the bantamweight championship was scheduled for February 2014 at UFC 169. Excitement for this fight was huge a clash of interim champ with returning kingpin is always fun but add into the mix Baraos aggressive striking going up against Cruz unorthodox, tricky stand-up and you have an intriguing style match-up. Unfortunately for all concerned, Dominick Cruz once again suffered a serious injury in the build-up to the fight this time unfortunately tearing his groin and Barao was subsequently made the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion. Thankfully the UFC 169 headliner was saved by Urijah Faber. The Team Alpha Male fighter had had an incredible 2013 and was doubtless ready for another title shot. This new fight was nowhere near as highly anticipated as the original bout where Barao and Cruz had never fought before, we had already seen Barao beat Faber with a comfortable decision victory at UFC 149 (July 2012) to win the interim championship. Renan Barao proved to be even more dominant in the rematch with Faber, winning with a TKO in the first round after a heavy straight right. The loss of this huge bantamweight title fight certainly hurt the UFC badly as a win over Cruz wouldve validated Baraos reign as champion. We hope that we see Cruz make a full recovery and we do eventually see The Dominators Octagon return.