30 greatest UFC fighters of all time [UPDATED]

24. Dominick Cruz

Dominick Cruz, though fighting sparingly from 2014 up until now, has 10 fights in the UFC, seven of them being title fights, going 5-2. Cruz is 7-3 in the UFC with five performance bonuses.

Cruz was a WEC staple before it merged with the UFC in 2010, bringing the bantamweight belt over with him. Cruz was awarded the bantamweight championship and defended it against Urijah Faber and future flyweight king Demetrious Johnson, but then the injuries piled up.

Injuries kept Cruz away from the sport for three years before he was back in action, beating Takeya Mizugaki and then winning the title from champion TJ Dillashaw to become a two-time champion. Cruz defended his belt against Urijah Faber, then lost the belt to Faber’s teammate Cody Garbrandt in a fight where Cruz looked like an old dog in a new home with his unorthodox movement not faltering Garbrandt.

Cruz was out with more injuries for four years and returned to face Henry Cejudo for the title. Since Cruz’s title loss against Cejudo, he has gone 2-1, most recently getting finished by title contender Marlon Vera last summer. If the injuries didn’t occur, who knows how high the ceiling would have been for Cruz.