Dominick Cruz never lost his WEC-turned-UFC bantamweight title in the Octagon. Numerous injuries, including multiple knee surgeries, prompted the UFC to strip him of his title due to prolonged inactivity. He finally returned to the cage on September 27th, 2014, almost 3 full years after his title defense vs. Demetrious Johnson, in a UFC 178 preliminary card bout against Takeya Mizugaki. Questions of how he'd look after such a remarkably long layoff were answered in remarkably impressive fashion.
If you took away Brian Bowles' broken hand TKO stoppage, Cruz's last finish over an opponent prior to the Mizugaki fight was vs. Kenneth Aimes in 2008. Against Mizugaki, Cruz needed just 61 seconds to get the TKO finish. After taking Takeya down and controlling him, he unleashed a plethora of left hands that hurt Mizugaki as he tried to scramble back to his feet. A few seconds later, Cruz slammed Mizugaki with a bunch of right hands that forced a (very very late) stoppage. You can watch the full video at the top of the page by clicking on the play button.
Here's Dallas Winston's play-by-play of the fight:
R1: They touch gloves and Mizugaki whizzes a left over Cruz's head. Cruz hops in for a kick but both land shots as they separate. Cruz fires a right hand and follows behind it with a duck-under takedown and lands it with force, then goes berserk with a violent outburst of ground-and-pound as Mizugaki tries to scramble free. Cruz uses wrist control to isolate Mizugaki's right arm and delivers a frenetic volley of right hands until Mizugaki goes limp.
Dominick Cruz defeats Takeya Mizugaki by TKO (punches) at 1:01 R1
And here's how the Bloody Elbow community reacted to the ending:
Cruz will fight current champion T.J. Dillashaw in the main event of UFC Fight Night 81 on Sunday, January 17th from the TD Garden in Boston, MA. The night's main card begins at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT.