TL:DR: Dom is being an asshole, but some assholes are justified. Still an asshole though. “It's not even that he was cruising to an easy win and got randomly caught either.” Maybe Dom wasn’t “cruzing”(eh?) to an easy win but you can’t deny that he didn’t get hit by a random shot. Cejudo wasn’t even throwing a knee, he went for another leg kick and thankfully Cruz was doing his 8 movement and was at the right spot at the right time. Cruz was not getting his “ass whooped” and was still in that fight. To say he was being “outclassed” is a stretch. We simply did not see enough to judge how the rest of the fight would have gone. Yes, the leg kicks where brutal in the first round between 5:00 – 2:00 (4:35, 4:13, 3:40, 3:34, 3:12, 3:05) but Dom did begin to check them and swing out or follow up with grapple making it harder for Cejudo to kick and move out. (2:24,2:22,2:06,1:30) Also for what its worth, the first thing out of Dom’s corner was “start respecting that fucking kick!” The 2nd round I think is a little easier to see as more balanced; neither fighter was running away with it. Cejudo established his game plan and Dom now had to respect the leg kick as he looked to move. The stoppage is where a lot of people question Cruz but as I was rewatching the fight I couldn’t help but notice a similar grapple/punch exchange in the first at the 2:40 mark. The positions are a bit different as Cejudo is on different sides but the action on Dom’s part is the same. Cejudo gets in the back-side position, far back by Dom’s hips, and throws some small punches to the head. In the exchange in the first round at the 2:40 mark, Dom can get up from this position by putting both his hands on the floor and fully extending his legs, standing up. This does leave Dom open for more punches temporarily as Cruz will not be able to protect his face, but it makes it difficult for Cejudo to stay behind Cruz’s hips and swing those punches. This is how Dom is able to break the grapple in the first round. So fast forward to the end of the 2nd when the fight is stopped. Cejudo’s leg kick is interrupted with Cruz’s face being in the way, and Cruz is rocked. Cejudo jumps on Dom and follows up with a nice right. Now the next couple of punches are the ones that really matter because the ref will see them as unanswered. But if you look Cruz’s arm is just pinned behind Cejudo’s leg. After Cruz get’s his arm free, Cejudo lands 4 more so-so punches as Cruz moves to his right and tries getting to his feet by using the same movement he used in the 1st at the 2:40 mark. But Cruz never got the chance to try to get up because the ref stopped it. Early. Put some repek on his name my brothas.