Dana White says UFC won't strip Bantamweight Champ Dominick Cruz unless he's forced to retire

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz is on the mend after undergoing surgery a second time late last year to repair a badly injured knee. There's no real timetable for his return, so as Interim Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao looks to defend the belt for the first time on Saturday night at UFC on Fuel 7, the question on the minds of some is whether the UFC would consider stripping him of his title.

UFC President doesn't believe it will happen so long as Cruz is going to return to action, but he cautioned the Bantamweight Champ on trying to return should he suffer another setback.

"If he starts training again and gets another injury that's going to take him out for a year – and I hate to even say this about the kid since he's a really good kid – but he should seriously probably look at retiring," White said this week (via MMAJunkie.com). "But I'm not taking something like [the title] from somebody.

"The way that it works in the fight business is you beat the man who beat the man. Obviously, though, if he had to retire, then [the interim titleholder] would automatically become the champion."

Of course, there's precedent for the UFC to take the title from him if the injury leaves no clear return. They did so with Frank Mir after his motorcycle accident left him unable to defend the belt for nearly two years, making Interim Champ Andrei Arlovski the official Champ at that time. However, White's hoping to see Cruz make a return this year, possibly even to fight the winner of Saturday's bout.

"I've never seen anybody with worse luck than this kid has had over the last several years," he said. "We expect him to come back. Everything is going as well as can be expected, and hopefully he comes back soon. But that's really all I can say."

Penick's Analysis: I absolutely hope Cruz is able to return this year, because no one should be kept out of commission that long from injury. It's terrible luck for him as the rest of the division fluctuates and changes, but it wouldn't be unreasonable to strip him if he suffers a further setback this year. And honestly, it could be the best thing for him if he does have to sit on the sidelines even longer. Coming back from an injury layoff is difficult; coming back from an injury layoff after two years? It's impossible to expect him to be the same fighter after that. If he suffers another serious setback, one which pushes him into 2014 without having a fight, stripping him would allow him to come back down a few rungs in the division so he can ease his way back to a title fight. It simply may be for his benefit in that case. That said, if he can return by the summer or fall to fight the winner of this Saturday's bout, then it's a moot point and it won't matter.

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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_15926.shtml

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