UFC Fight Night 81 Results: Dominick Cruz Wins Back His Bantamweight Title

It was a close one, damn close, but at the end of UFC Fight Night 81, Dominick Cruz is still the UFC champion. Having fought only once in the last 4.5 years, he had his belt stripped after a series of injuries, and in that time Renan Barao and TJ Dillashaw took over the bantamweight division. Still, Cruz knew that he ever lost the belt. In his mind he was defending the title. Through the first three rounds, it looked like Cruz took it, but Dillashaw stormed back (Cruz said his foot is “torn in half,” whatever that means), and it all led to a storybook, nail-biting split-decision moment.

Here’s the judge’s scorecard just in case you wanted to see the thought process behind the decision.

The rest of the card was enjoyable enough, especially for a free FS1 card.

Main Card

—Eddie Alvarez defeated Anthony Pettis via split-decision, which will likely set up the next lightweight challenger. Eddie’s wife could be heard all through the fight:

—Travis Browne defeated Matt Mitrione via TKO (third round). It led to this horrifying moment.

—Francisco Trinaldo defeated Ross Pearson via unanimous decision

Undercard

—Patrick Côté defeated Ben Saunders via TKO (second round)

—Ed Herman defeated Tim Boetsch via flying knee TKO (second round)

—Chris Wade defeated Mehdi Baghdad via submission/rear naked choke (first round)

—Luke Sanders defeated Maximo Blanco via submission/rear naked choke (first round)