He started his wrestling career in the Flowing Wells School District and earned Most Valuable, Most Improved, and Team Captain awards on his way to becoming a State Placer in his senior year in High School. After high school Dominick attended Pima Community College while assisting wrestlers at both Flowing Wells and Ironwood Ridge High Schools. He then decided to pursue his dream of becoming a mixed martial artist. In 2010, he became the WEC Bantamweight Champion then retired that belt as the WEC merged with the UFC, winning the first Bantamweight Championship in the UFC. With six defenses afterward, enduring several devastating injuries, he made three separate comebacks to again earn the title back in 2016 when he was named the UFC Comeback Fighter of the Year. Dominick was undefeated from 2007-2016. He continues to fight in the UFC and is currently ranked in the top 10 of the Bantamweight Division with a record of 23-3. Along the way Dominick was inducted into both the San Diego Hall and the Flowing Wells High School Halls of Fame. He was head coach of the “Ultimate Fighter” TV series, earned Fox Sports and World MMA Analyst of the Year Award three times while continuing to become a Commentator for ESPN, was portrayed in the ESPN Documentary “In the Clinch”, is the co-host of the weekly ESPN show “Unlocking Victory”, had September 8, 2012, declared Dominick Cruz Youth Day by the mayor of Tuscan, and recently joined the National Board of Directors United States Federation of Mixed Martial Arts.

Throughout all this Dominick has also been the major supporter of an after-school program in Tuscan, Arizona. The Higher Ground Program started with less than twenty kids and has now grown to over 300 students all participating in after school academic and athletic activities. Dominick has been their largest financial supporter and matched their fundraising efforts of $20,000 in addition to donating two new 15 passenger vans to help transport the students. He remembers his young life in Tuscan and continues to spend time working with and helping students in several organizations because it is the way he can serve others through his heart and passion for wrestling.