Cruz: I’m going straight for the jugular
Serving as a coach on the FX-broadcast “The Ultimate Fighter: Live” series, Cruz has shied away from conventional wisdom when…
Serving as a coach on the FX-broadcast “The Ultimate Fighter: Live” series, Cruz has shied away from conventional wisdom when it comes to fight selection, preferring instead to give up control of the matchups one week and choosing his opponent’s top fighter the next.
There a simple reason for that, Cruz said. He’s playing for keeps.
“I’m going straight for the jugular, straight in for the kill,” Cruz told MMAjunkie.com following Friday’s new episode of “TUF: Live.” “I’ve done it since the beginning of my career. You start from the bottom, and you work to the top, and you get the ‘W.'”
“It’s weird [expletive],” UFC president Dana White admitted. “I’ve never seen this competition played the way that he’s doing it, but who the [expletive] am I to yap? He’s winning, right?”
At the conclusion of Friday’s third episode, Cruz made another bold decision, selecting Myles Jury to take on Team Faber’s top selection, Al Iaquinta.
“I think it’s a tactic that you’ve never seen on ‘The Ultimate Fighter,'” Cruz said. “I wanted to do something different and kind of surprise the team that I was up against. I think – again – Faber underestimated the way that I coach, the things that I do, the way that I think, the way that I fight. I had to use that to my advantage. I knew he would underestimate me because he’s a cocky dude, as much as he doesn’t want to admit it. It’s worked out so far.