Dominick Cruz Survived 3 ACL Surgeries, Four Years of Inactivity, Yet Shocked the World By Winning Another UFC Title

Introducing the Mindset and Inner Dialogue that fueled one of the most improbable Comebacks in sports history

By @frankcurreri (facebook: mindjitsu; instagram: mindjitsu_mindset)

Over the years I have interviewed UFC champion Dominick Cruz many times for stories published on UFC.com, UFC magazine, CNN.com and Bleacher Report. Here are a collection of quotes I gathered that illuminate his extraordinary Inner Thinking

1. “Dom brings a whole ‘nother level to tunnel vision,” says former NFL linebacker Shawne Merriman, a friend of Cruz’s. “Nothing else matters or exists in the world other than his craft and what he’s doing. Obsession is the right word.”

2. “Nothing short of death is going to stop that kid from doing what he wants to do.” – Eric Del Fierro, Cruz’s head coach and mentor.

Mind > Matter:

3. “I started seeing a professional (psychologist) to make myself more mentally capable and understand the ins and outs of the brain. My outlook was, everybody is training their body at a high level in the UFC. Everybody is working out and training until failure. Everybody is fast, strong and has technique. So what is the one thing I could do to make me different, to look outside of the box and have an edge? And I decided it was to work on my brain as much as I work on my body. For me, there is no thought of ‘maybe winning. I WILL win. It’s a life-changing mindset.” – Dominick Cruz

4. “The third ACL (tear) gave me a gift to find out if I was onto something with this new mindset, a test to see if I could get through this.The thing that takes a beating (during ACL recovery) is your mind, because you stop believing. The body will return and be strong again—the mind is the thing you have to trick.” – Dom Cruz

5. “Slowly but surely I was able to narrow down the real issues with my body, which were depression, self-worth, self-love. All these things which sound cheezy but were problems I had in myself growing up. And I got to the bottom of it. I was holding onto a lot of (emotional) pain before the ACL injuries; that’s what caused the injuries, in my opinion,” he says. “I was overtraining to overcompensate for something I lacked inside me. It just added up … and then it broke.” – Dom Cruz

When He Was Injury Sidelined for Long Periods of Time and Couldn’t Train:

6. “I was stuck there and I had to focus on the only thing I could: My mind. When I was healing, all I let myself do was focus on inner Peace, how to be happy without competing, how to be happy without having the belt, how to find happiness coaching people or being an analyst on FOX Sports. And so I found my Inner Peace and added that to my physical gifts once I healed. So I came back and am now what I was but even stronger with my mind.” – Dominick Cruz

THE MISSION

7. “I wanted to build my mind into something good, not just of the world. I wanted to be something different.” — Dom Cruz

Why Some Athletes Thrive After Major Injury and Others Don’t

8. “He’s top of the food chain, as highly motivated as any athlete I’ve worked with. He does everything with an incredible level of detail and intensity. That’s what separates guys like him. There aren’t physical differences between him and other athletes—they’re all mental.”– Renowed ACL rehab guru Gavin McMillan, founder of Sports Science Lab

A Glimpse Inside Cruz’s Home Space

9. Lying around his crib are many books with titles such as “Leadership Promises for Everyday”; “Outliers: Story of Success”’ and “The Guide To Greatness.” On the fridge, a myriad of messages are posted, daily reminders that he still has a long way to go if he is to give his dreams life.

The messages appear under a headline: “BEING GREAT.”

Are you willing to pay the price that Greatness requires?

Are you willing to give up everything to win?

Are you willing to pay the price and invest the time, energy, sweat and dedication that greatness requires?

Infuse heart, soul, spirit and passion because talent is not enough. (“That’s a Big one,” he says)

Always think and be positive.

The Antidote to fear is trust and fate. In yourself and whatever the task at hand is.

Easier Said Than Done …

11. “The problem is, you gotta’ have the mind to be a great fighter,” Cruz said.

In fact, Cruz believes most pro fighters will eventually retire having fulfilled just a fraction of their potential.

“The majority of fighters hold themselves back because of their own arrogance,” he said. “You have to really open your mind and understand that you can learn something from everybody, otherwise you stop learning. You really have to humble yourself and take your ass whippings to understand that. There are a ton of fighters out there that are just unbelievable and I don’t even know how they lose. But it’s in their brains where they’re losing.” – Dom Cruz

Shattering Performance-Limiting Mythology After being Sidelined Nearly Four Years

12. “Ring rust, ring rust, ring rust…You guys are making this up out of nowhere!” Cruz says he fired back at reporters. “There’s no such thing as ring rust! It doesn’t exist and I’m freakin’ tired of hearing it!” – Dom Cruz

Four Years of Zen School: The Counter-Intuitive Mindset That Freed Cruz to Fight Again

13. “Does that even make sense: The only way for me to become a world champion again was realizing that I had to find happiness without training and accepting that I might never compete or have the belt again. It doesn’t sense to me even as I talk about it right now. It just blows my mind. The only thing that was going to allow me to get back to being the best in the world was realizing that I had to not want it. I had to not need it. I had to appreciate it the gift that it was but might never be again. Once I did that, I was free. I didn’t have to rely on it. I didn’t need it for happiness or inner peace. I didn’t need it to feel whole. Now I’m whole without fighting.” – Dom Cruz

15. “I want to explain to people that the biggest issue you are facing with serious physical injuries like mine has nothing to do with your physical body. Nothing. It is 100 percent mental. When it all comes down to it, as long as you are young enough, you’re going to comeback and your body will work at full potential.” – Dom Cruz

16. Unflappable Faith

“I feel that religion and my faith in God has taught me what faith is. And when you learn what faith is you learn to have faith in yourself, not just God or your Higher Power, whatever somebody else’s Higher Power is, it doesn’t matter. But if you have a Higher Power you have to learn to have faith in that Higher Power and trust in it with all your heart, soul and brain or else you can’t use that Higher Power.

“I have faith in myself and so when I fight I’m able to just let it all hang out. When I do that I don’t have to worry or think because I trust my reactions and instincts.” – Dom Cruz