Cruz' body rejected an ACL from a dead guy. Is his career at the top finished?

[Haggis McJackass]

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He went under the knife again this week because the replacement ACL he got back in June didn't take.

So he'll be sidelined for several more months, even if all goes well.

He hasn't fought since October last year, which means that he's looking at two years between fights if everything goes well, and most of that time spent unable to train.

That's a LONG time to be out of action, and even more so in the lighter divisions where speed and reflexes and muscle memory count for more than they do with the heavier guys.

He's 27 now so he's not over the hill, but have we seen the best of Cruz?

[the_bigunit]

27 years old. I still can't wrap my head around that.

[Flea Man]

Won't be back until 2014. Over for him IMO.

Would be an incredible turnaround if he could reach the top again. But he's not GSP.

In other news Faber Vs Menjivar is an awesome fight.

[MaliSlamusrex]

When you have an injury like that the doubt crushes your will to train, even going for a 20 min jog is a mixture of embarrassment, pain and anguish. He will be lucky if he recovers physically, it will be a miracle if he recovers mentally and physically to fight at the level he did.

[achillesthegreat]

I think the toughest thing for him is that in his absence I would expect his competition to get better as the lower weights receive more focus and the dig deeper into the talent pool to find the best. On top of that, his fight fitness will be gone already, will he fight like an injured fighter or give it 100% and if he does go at 100% will his body hold up. The break could be great for his body as its not wholly natural for our body to go under the intensity which MMA fighters do.

You just don't know.

[HeGlassedMe]

[Stoo]

BW is a division that's weak with top talent in the publics eye so Cruz will easily be a top 5 guy when he returns even with a gimpy leg and will still be better than 90% of the guys at 135. Like 185 its a tweener division for elite level talent, he seems to be comfortable guy at the weight anyway

At least this wasnt a ''Has Cruz peaked'' thread...oh wait...

[chrisbonnie]

i wouldnt rule Cruz out too quick. He comes across as a very mentally strong individual.

i dont think he's as athletically gifted as GSP, and that would worry me in terms of his physical ability to recover fully. But mental strength has to count for something.

i hope for his sake he doesnt come back a Faber or Barao straight off the bat, he really needs to work his way up very slowly

[greathamza]

It may be a career ending injury

[Koa]

I wonder if the rumors that Rousey was too much for him are true. He has one of those styles that is effective, he scores and has a really elusive footwork scheme.

I wish I could say I'll miss him. Every guy that steps in the ring is a badass on some level. Maybe that merits Cruz' cockiness by itself, but if a guy acts like that I hope he goes into the ring and fights to finish, but really Cruz would act bad and it seemed like he would hold back against opponents that he was just overly dominant against. I guess I wish he tried to finish more fights is all, it would make his personality justifiable.

I wouldn't stick a fork in a guy like that. He has a record like that for a reason, he's stubborn. You bet if he gets a good replacement he will be back, maybe not superman GSP style, but I wouldn't count a guy out that works as hard as Cruz. He may be a lot of things, but he's not lazy, and he has heart and determination.

[BobDigi5060]

Terrible, terrible news. It's a shame he didn't get some insight from GSP who was going through the same damn thing.

I'm sure he will fight again, in the end only proving to himself that he doesn't have it anymore.

[Flea Man]

Gimpy leg

[Rob_Floyd]

It will be interesting to see how this effects his style when he does come back. How much his mobility suffers. His movement is the base of his whole style.

[sugarngold]

Cruz is fairly athletic. He could recover. No one will know until he makes his return. He's still South of 30 so he still has plenty of time.

[Stoo]

Originally Posted by Flea Man

Gimpy leg

Made me think of that bit in Home Alone... but seriously though, it's a fair comment that he may not be the same...but is there anyone good enough to beat him still (counting on you here Rob) His style is perfect for the lower weight divisions, Frankie did well on being ''elusive'' despite being massively undersized