Former two-time UFC bantamweight champ Dominick Cruz suffers a huge loss. Cruz revealed in an Instagram post that he lost his father Rojelio Cruz. However, Cruz did not reveal the cause of death. But, Dom did hint that his father was severely ill ahead of his last bout against Marlon Vera.
Before the bout on August 13th, Cruz revealed that his father was in the hospital battling for his life. Cruz had an interesting relationship with his father. His father had struggled with drug addiction when Dominick was young and he left the family, putting Dom in charge of taking care of the entire family. However, Cruz was thankful that the lessons his father taught him.
“He taught me that drugs and alcohol can really pull you away from whatever you want. Him being a drug addict, young, and not being around, all that. For a long time, I was in a lot of anger and pain about that. My dad’s in a hospital right now, dying. So it puts things into perspective.” (h/t via sportskeeda)
Almost 3 months after the interview, Dom shared the disheartening news of his father’s death. In 2019, Dom posted a picture on his Twitter account and wanted to grow a horseshoe mustache similar to the one that his father had. Although he did not grow the mustache, Dominick photoshopped a mustache as a tribute to his father.
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The UFC community sends its condolences to Dominick Cruz after his father’s death
Recently, the former UFC heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic also lost his father. Losing a parent is an extremely painful experience to go through. However, Cruz is not alone, as the entire UFC community is standing by the 37-year-old and have sent their condolences to the former UFC champ.
Former and current UFC fighters Jeremy Stephens, Roy Nelson, Andrei Arlovski, Sergio Pettis, Khaos Williams, and Calvin Kattar, all shared their love for Dominick Cruz. Aside from fighting, Dominick is also a big part of the UFC broadcasting team. He often serves as a commentator for a lot of UFC Fight Night cards. Hence, ace commentator Jon Anik also shared his thoughts.
Anik wrote, “Love you, bro.” Popular UFC presenter Megan Olivi also commented on Cruz’s post and wrote, “Oh Dom I’m so sorry for your loss!” Reactions also came pouring in from the fans, who also offered their thoughts and prayers for Cruz. However, Dominick also received a message of support from Khabib Nurmagomedov‘s manager, Ali Abdelaziz.
My condolences to @DominickCruz for the loss of his father.
— Ali Abdelaziz (@AliAbdelaziz00) December 12, 2022
Ali previously made the case that Dominick Cruz is not the best bantamweight fighter of all time. Instead, Ali favors his client Henry Cejudo over Cruz. However, Ali set aside any professional rivalry and offered his empathy for “The Dominator.”
As far as his career goes, Dominick Cruz suffered a KO loss against Marlon “Chito” Vera in the previous fight. Despite that, Cruz occupies the 7th rank in UFC’s 135lbs division Dominick, who has an MMA record of 24-4, is not booked for a fight currently.
