WEC 50 Aftermath: Is Dominick Cruz a Top-5 Pound-for-Pound Fighter?

Last night we watched Dominick Cruz retain his Bantamweight title by defeating Joseph Benavidez via split decision at WEC 50. The last time the Bantamweight title was successfully defended was a little more than 16 months ago. The belt changed hands three times in just over 16 months before it was defended. That is not what I would call a stable division. Only recently has the WEC embraced the Bantamweight division and we are beginning to find out who the best Bantamweights are.

I would like to think that the WEC's Bantamweight division is like the UFC's Heavyweight division from 1997-99. The fighters in the Bantamweight division are so young and inexperienced compared to fighters at higher weight classes. It is difficult to find fights at Bantamweight across the U.S. The pool of talent at Bantamweight is going to be far less than all other weight classes. Therefore to some degree we are going to get a watered-down product at Bantamweight.

Bantamweight's first and only star was/is Miguel Torres, even though he has never truly beaten a elite fighter. Yet MMA web sites skyrocketed him to their pound-for-pound rankings. Torres' biggest win was against
Yoshiro Maeda (26-9). How can you put someone on your pound-for-pound list when they don't fight elite competition? It befuddles me to think of why anyone would put a Bantamweight in there pound for pound rankings.

Which leads me to this tweet from Josh Gross:

RT @Jon_Anik Dominick Cruz needs some Top 10 P4P consideration. Dude is slick. ... No. 5 on my list.GSP, Silva, Aldo, Rua, Cruz

I like and respect Josh Gross, but I disagree. Is Josh Gross really going to try and convince me and the masses that Charlie Valencia, Ian McCall, Ivan Lopez, Joseph Benavidez x2, and Brian Bowles at Bantamweight is a top 5 pound-for-pound résumé!? I would much rather see Jon Fitch or Jake Shields take the place of Cruz. Both of those fighters have résumés for a pound-for-pound list. Frankly, I am semi-shocked Cruz would get top-10 pound-for-pound love.

I can only assume this is the "what have you done for me lately" culture rearing its ugly head.  We have yet to see an elite fighter in the Bantamweight division. Maybe Cruz is it, but he hasn't turned into that fighter yet. Just like Cruz, Bantamweight is still young and needs the time to grow and develop. When Bantamweight has matured and obtains depth we will find out if Cruz is really pound-for-pound worthy.