Dominick Cruz’s return after two years out of action, and potential retirement fight at UFC Seattle, is off.
Booked against Rob Font at the Fight Night event later this month, Cruz has been forced to withdraw from the bout due to an injury sustained during training.
Sources confirmed the unfortunate news to Cageside Press. The fight was to have been part of the main card at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Washington on February 22, 2025.
Cruz (24-4) is a multiple time UFC bantamweight champion, as well as WEC champ, and a future UFC Hall of Famer. His in-cage career has seen years stolen from it due to injury, however, including ACL tears that led to him relinquishing his belt in 2014. Cruz would win the title back in 2016, defeating TJ Dillashaw, only to lose it later in the year to Cody Garbrandt.
UFC Seattle is headlined by another bantamweight showdown, as Henry Cejudo takes on Song Yadong. In the wake of Dominick Cruz withdrawing, the card currently breaks down as follows:
- Henry Cejudo vs. Song Yadong
- Brendan Allen vs. Anthony Hernandez
- Jean Silva vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Rizvan Kuniev
- Edson Barboza vs. Steve Garcia
- Ion Cuțelaba vs. Ibo Aslan
- Adam Fugitt vs. Billy Goff
- Ketlen Vieira vs. Macy Chiasson
- Ricky Simón vs. Javid Basharat
- Mansur Abdul-Malik vs. Nick Klein
- Modestas Bukauskas vs. Raffael Cerqueira
- Andre Fili vs. Melquizael Costa
