Current No. 8-ranked UFC bantamweight Cody Garbrandt has been seen frequently in headlines these past few weeks after engaging in a war of words with current 135-pound champ Dominick Cruz.
‘No Love’ has aspirations of one day sitting atop the mountain of the UFC’s bantamweight division; a feat only two men who aren’t named Dominick Cruz have accomplished in the division’s history, however, none of them did it by defeating ‘The Dominator’.
During a recent interview with FOX Sports, Garbrandt stated that he has been dreaming of fighting Cruz since his adolescence and revealed his 135-pound hit list in the process:
“I’ve got a UFC hit list. My UFC hit list goes like this — by default it’s Takeya Mizugaki, he’s my next fight. Then it goes Dominick Cruz, TJ Dillashaw, John Lineker. That’s my UFC hit list,” Garbrandt said.
“I’ve been thinking about whooping his ass since I was a kid, since I was a teenager,” Garbrandt said. “That’s no lie. Since the WEC days and all that.
I’ve had over a million fights with Dominick Cruz in my head and I’ve won every one of them. It’s finally coming. It’s right there and he knows it”
While Garbrandt takes nothing away from Cruz’s legendary accomplishments inside the Octagon, the Team Alpha Male product doesn’t believe Cruz has ever faced a young-and-hungry prospect with fight-ending power like himself:
“When has that guy fought a young, hungry lion that’s been coming up, that’s proved himself, climbed the rankings that’s hungry and had such drive and laser focus to get the top? Coming from nothing.
That’s why I think he’s got the title — he beat TJ (Dillashaw), he beat (Urijah) Faber — and nothing against him, coming back from injury and being out for so long, good for him.
Give him a round of applause for that but when’s the last time he fought a young, hungry, heavy hitting, mean mother (expletive) that loves to fight?” Garbrandt said.
“He hasn’t. That’s why he’s fearful of me. That’s why he doesn’t want to fight me. He knows I’m hungry to get in there. It’s almost there.
I’m more focused, more driven, more motivated and hungrier to do this because it’s right there. It’s within arm’s reach. I want to reach out and grab his throat.”
‘No Love’ seems to have it all planned out following his bout with Takeya Mizugaki this Saturday, as he claims he will then challenge Cruz for the belt before defending it against former teammate TJ Dillashaw next:
“I’ll beat Takeya, I’ll fight Dominick for the title, TJ is the first title defense, knock him out, bring on John Lineker, I’ll knock him out. He doesn’t get off the hook that easy.
He was supposed to get that ass whooped in February. That’s my game plan. That’s what I want,” Garbrandt said.
“I don’t see any fighter that’s ever had a hit list out. That’s my hit list and I’m sticking to it.”
Garbrandt will take on Mizugaki on the main card of UFC 202 live on pay-per-view (PPV), from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada on August 20, 2016.
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