Former UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is targeting a return this year and eyes the upper echelon of the division.

Cruz is coming off a “Fight of the Night” win over Pedro Munhoz this past December and is back on a winning streak after losing his title in 2016.

“I’m ready,” Cruz said in an interview with The Schmo. “I’m training non-stop. I just want to face someone who’s above me in the division, not underneath me in the ladder. I’ve been fighting for a long time. I don’t deserve anything, but moving up the ladder doesn’t sound like anything other than logic.”

He continued, “I’m coming back this year, and we’re winning the title. We are winning the title if not this year, the next year, but each fight is getting closer to that goal.”

Cruz (24-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) would love another shot at the title now but is willing to fight his way back up. With the news of Henry Cejudo, the last man to beat him, returning and asking for a direct shot at gold, Cruz thinks he should have to fight his way back too.

“If I don’t get the shot, I don’t get the shot, but I’m beating the people I need to beat. I’m on a two-fight win streak,” CFormer UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz is targeting a return this year and eyes the upper echelon of the division.ruz said. “We’re naming people who haven’t even been in the USADA testing pool for over a year. So people who have been outside of the USADA testing pool, why are they even in the debate for a title?

“That doesn’t make any sense to me. So the only people in the debate for a title are the people who have been actively putting their careers on the line, and that’s everybody who’s been in the division actively. If you haven’t been active in the division, get to the back of the line, period.”

Cruz doesn’t have a particular name in mind for his next fight but is happy to welcome Cejudo back to the octagon. Prior to retiring, Cejudo finished Cruz at UFC 249 to retain his bantamweight title, a stoppage Cruz contested.

“I want to move up. Give me somebody in the top five,” Cruz said. “Give me an Aldo, give me a Petr Yan, give me Aljamain Sterling. You know what, give me the rematch with Cejudo when he gets his sh*t together. I don’t care. Let me be the first person he faces until he gets right back in the division if he wants. I got no beef with him.”