UFC 249: Dominick Cruz can cement legacy as bantamweight royalty with win against Henry Cejudo

Injury-plagued former champ Dominick Cruz makes his return from another extended absence from the cage to challenge Henry Cejudo for bantamweight gold at UFC 249, knowing that a win will mark him out as the best of all time.

Throughout the tenure of the UFC's bantamweight fold, Cruz has known no equal. His streak of victories, which extended into his pre-UFC days in the WEC, marks 'The Dominator' as one of the most complex puzzles to solve in all of MMA.

His herky-jerky fight style, where he uses irregular lateral movement to flummox his opponents while launching pinpoint strikes from odd angles, was often copied but never quite equalled (we're looking at you, T.J. Dillashaw) in the 135lb division, leading some commentators saying that the only man capable of beating Dominick Cruz was Cruz himself. 

How true that proved to be. In the more than quarter century that the UFC has been operating, there hasn't been a fighter more unlucky with injuries than Dominick Cruz. 

His list of medical complaints is as long as his (frequently injured) leg: a torn ACL, a torn groin, another torn ACL (this time in the other knee), tendonitis, a broken arm, a shoulder injury... the list goes on. It is frightening to think what he may have accomplished had he not been forced to spend so much of the last decade on the treatment table. 

During Cruz's absence, a succession of fighters jostled with one another to be considered as champion. First it was Renan Barao. Then came Dillashaw. Cody Garbrandt followed next and today, the latest possessor of the title is the man who will be standing opposite Cruz in the cage on Saturday night: Henry Cejudo.

The former US Olympian is a curious case. His character, to put it mildly, is an acquired taste, but his cartoonish persona shouldn't distract from his true skill as a world class combat athlete. Boasting outstanding wrestling and an ever-improving stand-up game, Cejudo has earmarked himself as the division's elite over the course of the last 24 months or so - but that lofty title has always come with something of a caveat: he hasn't fought Dominick Cruz yet. 

By early Sunday morning, we will have a better picture of the state of the union at 135lbs in the UFC but in order for Cejudo to be successful he will have to employ a strategy designed to neutralize Cruz's movement - something no fighters in the UFC has had success with yet. Sure, Cody Garbrandt holds a victory over Cruz but that was down to the nuclear warhead-like power he possesses in his fists, something which Cejudo cannot claim to have.

The last time Cruz returned from an extended injury was at UFC 178 in September 2014. On that occasion he utterly destroyed the experienced Takeya Mizugaki in 61 seconds flat. 

Any repeat of that, or even a mild resemblance, will underscore the fact that Dominick Cruz has no equal at 135lbs. A Cejudo win, though, could mean that Cruz's title ambitions are over, likely permanently. The stakes have rarely been higher for either man.