Garbrandt Has Battled His Demons
Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is plotting his comeback story.
Garbrandt hasn’t competed since March last year when he was knocked out by Pedro Munhoz at UFC 235.That put him on a three-fight losing streak following his previous two knockout defeats to TJ Dillashaw. Many have since written him and his career off at the age of 28, especially given the manner of his three defeats where he made the same errors resulting in fire fights.
But for Garbrandt, there weren’t any thoughts whatsoever about quitting fighting. And while his previous setbacks were hard to take, his confidence in himself and his ability was never affected.
“When I’m on, no one in the world can beat me,” Garbrandt told MMA Fighting. “I truly believe I’ve corrected a lot of my errors that I needed to correct. When I’m at peace with myself, I can cause a lot of chaos inside that octagon because I know that my life is good, it’s in order and I can let that savagery out in the octagon and that’s what I’m prepared to do.”
Garbrandt will get a chance to show he has fixed those errors and return to the win column in the co-main event of UFC 250 this weekend when he meets division veteran Raphael Assuncao.
“No Love” is looking to make a statement in his quest to regain the bantamweight title he previously won in such impressive fashion against Dominick Cruz.
“For me, I’m in the sport to be the best,” Garbrandt said. “It was never chasing money. I never even thought of money until I got money. It was like ‘oh sh*t I won some fights and here’s some money.’ That’s cool, that’s a plus side to it but money was never the motivating factor. It was always being the best. That’s my quest to get back to the title. I wanted to be the best in the world. I worked towards that. Dreamed of that. That was what was pushing me. This sport is a marathon, not a sprint. Just like life.
“I’ve battled my demons. I’m here to take the throne again. Whoever that is when my time comes for another title shot, I’ll be ready. I’m going to capitalize on it. I’m going to hold onto this title until it’s time to walk away from this sport.”
Do you think Garbrandt will return to the win column? And possibly become champion again?