Dominick Cruz returns to action against Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178.

[The Great Cochrane]

Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz will be making his long awaited return to the octagon after a near three year abscence, as news broke out that The Dominator has signed on to face Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 178 in September in Las Vegas.

Cruz was originally scheduled to meet Urijah Faber for a third time following The Ultimate Fighter Live but was forced to withdraw due to a torn ACL. He was then set to make his return in Spring 2013 but he once again tore his ACL and was sidelined for another lengthy period of time.

Following his rehab, he was set to defend his Bantamweight Championship against then interim champion Renan Barao but Cruz was once again forced to withdraw due to a groin injury and as a result was stripped of the title, and was awarded to Barao who faced Urijah Faber for a second time.

Cruz's last fight was in October 2011 in a title defense against current UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson where he gained a unanimous decision victory and upon his return to the octagon will meet an opponent who's currently on the hottest streak of his time under the Zuffa Banner.

Kanagawa Japan's Takeya Mizugaki has currently won five in a row including wins over Jeff Houghland, Bryan Caraway, and Nam Phan. His last appearance in the octagon was at UFC 173 where he defeated Francisco Rivera to extend his win streak.

UFC 178 takes place September 27th at an unannounced venue in Las Vegas.

Author: Alex Cochrane
Cited source: Dave Doyle (MMAFighting.com)

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This should be a great fight! I'm just praying we don't see something graphic like Cruz's knee popping out Carlos Condit style in this fight, other then that this card is shaping up to be one of the best of the year.

 

[Swinny]

I just hope Cruz actually makes it to the fight this time. If he does this is the perfect fight for him upon his return to potentially get him back on track.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

If he does win the fight I would love to see him and Faber headline UFC on Fox 14 in Chicago.

That would be huge, and a big money maker for the UFC.

 

[Swinny]

Would make sense, but they might want to push Cruz right into a title shot if he beats Mizugaki. There's not a lot of contenders out there. You got the Dillashaw-Barao rematch and if Barao wins that we could get a third but other than that there's just Assuncao as a potential challenger. If Cruz loses to Faber then that takes him out of the title picture as well.

 

[The Great Cochrane]

Yeah but the UFC also needs a good storyline to sell a fight also. And other then that there's no bigger story than the Cruz/Faber feud, I put that in my top feuds thread for a reason.

But you do make a good point seeing as Cruz never did really lose the title.

 

[Swinny]

They could easily sell either a Cruz-Dillashaw or Cruz-Barao fight though. With Dillashaw you could still play up the Faber angle and the feud while having a fresh and new fight. And the Barao fight was supposed to happen multiple times and with him winning the interim belt but never beating the real champ and Cruz never losing the belt, it sells itself.

Faber vs. Cruz will definitely still happen at some point, as long as Cruz can stay healthy, but I think they'll probably focus on a title fight first.