Indeed, it was an evening of upsets, with the underdog Cruz knocking Benavidez from the ranks of the unbeaten with a fast and furious assault that saw both men scrapping and scrambling and banging non-stop for 15 minutes. Both men stormed at each other from the opening horn. Cruz, riding a significant height and reach advantage, danced about the cage and fired off crisp punching combinations; Benavidez answered with low kicks and his own fistic assault. Cruz scored a takedown and Benavidez fished for a guillotine choke in vain, then scrambled back to his feet. Benavidez landed a knee to the face and Cruz followed up with another takedown and mounted his opponent, before Benavidez fought back to his feet once more.

By round two, a sizable contingent of fans who had made the trek from Sacramento were chanting “Let’s go Joe! Let’s go Joe!”

Benavidez emerged as the aggressor, but Cruz caught the unbeaten fighter with a solid right as he was coming forward. Sensing Benavidez might be stunned, Cruz unleashed a hail of punches that forced his foe to retreat. Benavidez answered with a solid left hook and then a combination but Cruz was unfazed. Cruz then tagged Benavidez with a hard right. Cruz repeatedly rebuffed Benavidez’ takedown attempts and scored another takedown.

In round three, with Benavidez bleeding behind his left ear, Cruz claimed the round with two takedowns and good top control, even taking Benavidez’ back and getting both hooks in as the final seconds counted down.

The judges awarded Cruz a unanimous decision by scores of 30-27, 29-28, and 29-28.

“I just look for his strengths, stay away from them and put him where he’s uncomfortable,” he said of how he game plans for opponents. “That’s what I’ve been doing with everybody I’ve been fighting. “

Dominick Cruz put on a striking clinic as he took it to Ian McCall  for all three rounds on Saturday (Jan 25th) in a feather weight bout.  Cruz got in his groove early as he peppered McCall with whatever he felt necessary, leading him to a unanimous decision to improve his record to 12 and 1.