Dominick Cruz is about as much of a straight shooter as one gets in MMA. If you ask him a question, he’s going to give you an answer — often whether you like it or not.
That’s why Cruz was a little confused when he heard Marlon Vera’s pre-fight chatter ahead of their main event this Saturday at UFC San Diego. Vera criticized Cruz earlier this year for not allowing him to fight because of his rank. Cruz pushed back on the narrative at the time, explaining that if he did ever turn Vera down in the past, it was probably only because the date didn’t work out for him. Cruz doesn’t know why Chito is upset, but Vera seems to have maintained the same level of energy ever since they met.
“You’ve got to remember, it’s not as clear of communication between fighters is as it could be,” Cruz said Monday on The MMA Hour. “So you’ve got a matchmaker, you’ve got managers — who knows what the matchmaker is saying to the manager, then who knows what the manager is saying to the fighter. Whereas, I represent myself. I talk to the matchmaker directly. This is why I am very clear. I told you, ‘I want the date, I want somebody ranked above me, and that’s it.’
“And if the date doesn’t align with the timing of the person, I could see how they might think that I don’t want to fight them. But maybe they just want to fight at a different date than I do? So it’s OK. It’s okay for the man [Vera] to believe that way, if that is what he desires. But it’s not necessarily true either, because obviously we’re here.”
Cruz wasn’t the only UFC fighter who recently spoke out about the decision to eliminate the middleman in UFC matches. Fellow bantamweight star Sean O’Malley gave a lengthy explanation on The MMA Hour this past month about why he now represents himself in UFC negotiations rather than employing an MMA manager.
Cruz clarified that he doesn’t necessarily manage himself; he simply chooses to represent himself and communicate for himself when it comes time to book his next UFC fight.
“I’ve had to learn,” Cruz said. “I’ve been in the game for 16-plus years, so it’s like, after a while you’ve built some relationships with people and you understand. In the realm of communication, I have a great relationship with [UFC matchmaker] Sean Shelby. If he wants to talk to me, he can reach out to me. Sean Shelby is a fighter who can talk to anyone he wants. It’s not difficult to make it with him. He’s an excellent talker, he can get under your skin and knows how you throw the guy at them.
“But Shelby and I have a very clear line of communication and that allows me to get straight to the point. We are .”
Cruz stated that, given the UFC’s current situation, it is not common for him to employ the services of an intermediary manager when renegotiating a multi-fight contract.
Aside from this, the ex-UFC bantamweight champion prefers to manage his own business.
“We’ve been signed to six fight contracts by the UFC,” Cruz stated. Are we not? Four-fight contract usually at the lowest. Why would you pay someone for four fights if it is only one fight? That doesn’t make sense to me. And then on top of that, with a manager, how are they supposed to be bringing in sponsors if the UFC dictates the sponsors? Now the UFC has dictated the sponsorships and the UFC has dictated the contracts. So what’s the manager doing? They’re just talking and creating the communication. And what managers are good at, from my experience, is making it seem like they have all the hookups — but in the UFC, what hookups can you get when the UFC makes the decisions for you?
“It makes sense for fighters to be represented. Sponsors can bring in fighters and they can also build connections. They can have a lineup of like 10 fighters, and because one manager has a lineup of 10 fighters, sponsors might come to them directly and say, ‘Hey, do you have anybody?’ So then it makes sense. How many UFC sponsors can you have? There are very few. And they’re already decided by the UFC. The UFC decides who sponsors them and makes the contract.
“So for me, after the manager renegotiates my contract from one fight, I feel like I’ll pay them on that, and then from there I can do the communication for myself, because it’s already [there],” Cruz continued. “The contract is set. It’s only going to go up a certain amount each fight from there and that’s already dictated after the first conversation. A manager has only one conversation, and the money he’s receiving is for four fights. That doesn’t make sense to me.”
Cruz went on to explain that twice he’s gotten close to fighting out his contract and testing free agency, but ultimately he and the UFC came to some form of deal.
” They’ve been always willing to work alongside me,” Cruz stated. “I just don’t talk [to them] like a prick.
“It’s really easy if you just talk to them; talk to [UFC executive] Hunter [Campbell], talk to Sean Shelby. If you are able to create a conversation that is neutral, they will be very willing to listen. It’s when you come at them all crazy [is when things go wrong], ‘I deserve this.’ You’ve just got to come from a neutral place. Everyone deserves something. It is possible to earn all you can in the sport of tennis, but it’s important that people understand how they run a business.
” I have been watching the UFC grow from Spike TV, Versus to FOX and ESPN for so many years. Like, I’m familiar with what the UFC has done. They’re global, international. It’s incredible, the business model that they built into. Sold to WMEIMG, or some other long acronym. They’re smart. They are very smart .”
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