Newly crowned UFC bantamweight champ Cody ‘No Love’ Garbrandt shook up the mixed martial arts (MMA) world last month (Friday, December 30, 2016), when he handily defeated longtime reigning 135-pound king Dominick Cruz in the co-main event of UFC 207.
Garbrandt became the first man to defeat Cruz in almost a decade, since ‘No Love’s’ coach and mentor Urijah Faber handed ‘The Dominator’ his then-first and only career loss via guillotine choke in 2007 during Cruz’s WEC debut. With the win Garbrandt becomes the fourth ever UFC bantamweight champion, and picked up a huge target on his back in the process.
Although the spotlight may have been fixated on Garbrandt that night in Vegas, another former 135-pound champion also put on a masterful performance of his own and made quite the case to get the next crack at the division’s title. That man’s name is TJ Dillashaw.
Dillashaw reigned as champion of the 135-pound weight class for years while Cruz was out-of-action nursing injuries, and lost his title to the returning ‘Dominator’ in their January clash via split decision. After now two back-to-back decisive victories over names such as Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker, Dillashaw believes he’s next in line to challenge the new bantamweight champ for his throne.
During a recent interview with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour, Garbrandt discussed the possibility of defending his title against his former teammate Dillashaw next, an idea that isn’t too appealing to ‘No Love’ who believes Dillashaw isn’t a big pay-per-view (PPV) number draw:
“Like I said, I went for the title shot…it was a two man race,” he said. ?“Really it was just about getting paid, getting a contract, is why T.J. squeezed back in. You know, he was selling peanut butter, and anteing up $100,000 to bribe Cruz into a title shot. Dude, I don’t want to even speak on Dillashaw. He doesn’t even draw pay-per-view buys. It’s not even a fight that makes sense from that standpoint.
“But like I said, I got my eyes on Jose Aldo. I saw something that he wanted to fight me, so I’m ready to take down another legend. That’s why I got into this sport. I’m ready to build my legacy, and then to defend it. There’s going to be kids like me, that are teenagers, watching right now that want to whoop my ass. So I got to make sure that I keep improving and improving and doing my legacy. That’s why I jumped into the UFC and the fight game to do this, it’s to be the greatest. Lord willing, I’ll have longevity and have a lot of success.”
What are your thoughts? Are Garbrandt’s explanations for not wanting to step into the Octagon with Dillashaw justified? How possible is a contest between Jose Aldo and Garbrandt at 145 pounds? And who do you want to see ‘No Love’ throw-down with next?
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