Going back five fights? Does OP still have VHS? How long ago was fifth fight back? 
GROUNDnLB - I rewatched his last fight against mizugaki. The reason he won was because of the well timed takedown and relentless groundNlb (ha ha, I had to)That fight went 61 seconds. With half of it spent grappling. Not really enough time to gauge what happened on the feet, other than Cruz dancing his way out of Mizugakis punches.
If you watch the striking match in the beginning, it was fairy even. He was not winning the striking match. Not clearly anyway.
I think TJ wins with striking and that his wrestling will be good enough to keep it standing.
Aldo the apache - Cruz mixes it up way better. Bang taught tj how to use similar footwork for striking but not how to mix in the tds. Cruz sticks to the style 100% of the time. Tj was already starting to go away from it in this fight. Mostly used it right at the beginning of the round and abandoned it part way throughTJ's striking is good enough where he doesn't need to rely on TDs to win rounds or confuse opponents.
Cruz still part of the new school
Axel Foley -Aldo the apache - Cruz mixes it up way better. Bang taught tj how to use similar footwork for striking but not how to mix in the tds. Cruz sticks to the style 100% of the time. Tj was already starting to go away from it in this fight. Mostly used it right at the beginning of the round and abandoned it part way throughTJ's striking is good enough where he doesn't need to rely on TDs to win rounds or confuse opponents.
And yet he went for several TDs, without good setups, and never got any of them. He was also breathing very heavy early on. Fortunately, Barao was even more tired.
Faber knocked down Cruz a few times in their last fight and he's not exactly the best striker in the division. TJ beats a rusty Cruz in the 2nd or 3rd.