Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt isn’t done with flyweight and could be targeting a possible matchup with bantamweight contender Sean O’Malley.
Garbrandt is coming off of his first-round knockout loss to Kai Kara-France at UFC 269. It was his flyweight debut after a rough series of fights at bantamweight after losing the title to TJ Dillashaw in back-to-back bouts.
Garbrandt has remained relatively quiet since his most recent loss at UFC 269. But during a recent appearance on the Rollin with the Homies podcast, Garbrandt reflected on his first fight at 125 pounds.
“Rehydration, refuel process was good, I felt great at 125,” Garbrandt said. “I just got caught with a good punch in there and I just couldn’t recover. After I got hit with the punch, got back up, kinda felt OK to where I was moving, coming forward, but I still wasn’t like all there and then I took him down, and then we got into a scramble and came back to our feet and it just felt like I was on a slant.” (h/t MMA Junkie)
Garbrandt had some tense moments with O’Malley during the pre-fight press conference, and he pointed to the rising bantamweight as a possible matchup next.
“There’s a lot of good matchups. Sean O’Malley, I really want to whoop his ass,” Garbrandt continued. “That’s a fight that’s looming. Hopefully, that could possibly be my next one. I want that fight so I’d like to stay at 35. He might fight me now because I’m not in the rankings at 35 and he’s ranked so that’ll be a good fight.”
Cody Garbrandt Has Lost Five Of His Last Six
UFC president Dana White seemed vague when discussing Garbrandt’s future with the promotion. He likely needs to win in his next fight to remain on the roster, especially in light of recent cuts such as Kevin Lee and Junior dos Santos.
Garbrandt has now lost back-to-back fights in 2021 after losing three of his previous four. It’s unclear if he’ll return to title contention again, but he’s still young enough in his career where he still has time to make up lost ground.
Who do you think Cody Garbrandt should fight next?