Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz still holds a major grudge against referee Keith Peterson.
Dominick Cruz announced his retirement from MMA earlier this year after his planned final fight at UFC Seattle was scratched due to an injury suffered in camp. Despite the abrupt end to his fighting career, Cruz is a likely future UFC Hall of Famer and arguably the greatest bantamweight in the promotion’s history.
Cruz’s attempt to become a three-time UFC bantamweight champion fell short of the mark when he lost by TKO to Henry Cejudo at UFC 249. The fight was the co-main event of the UFC’s return to action after a brief hiatus due to COVID-19.
In the years since UFC 249, Cruz has remained extremely critical of referee Keith Peterson’s abrupt stoppage to the fight.
Dominick Cruz goes off on referee Keith Peterson more than five years since Henry Cejudo loss
During a recent appearance on the MightyCast podcast, Cruz took things a step further in reflecting on Peterson’s controversial stoppage.
“The way that the fight went, I’m on my feet, I’m up. No nonsense Keith Peterson is a complete f— up for that,” Cruz said.
“Only sporting event in the world going on, one second on the clock. I did my job as a fighter, and he completedly failed as a referee. A complete failure, and on multiple occasions he’s kept doing it. So yes, that fight got away from me, and it taught me that yes, I got hit and I shouldn’t’ve got clipped. I take responsibility for that, and I told Keith Peterson that.
“I get dropped almost every fight, I get up and whoop your a– right after that…there’s a game we’re playing, took half of my check from me, because he wanted to look at Henry and listen to him,” Cruz continued. “Dude, you are a weakling. Weak human for that. So get your life together and come back and get in and ref.”
As of this writing, Peterson hasn’t responded to Cruz’s remarks. Cruz’s final UFC fight came against Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera in the UFC San Diego main event in 2022, losing by head-kick knockout.