LAS VEGAS – Team Alpha Male’s future looks secure long after whenever founder Urijah Faber decides to call it a career.
Not only is the current generation of Sacramento fighters making a name for themselves – bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw leads the pack – but the next generation looks pretty solid, too.
TAM’s Cody Garbrandt made his UFC debut a memorable one, using a late flurry to finish off Marcus Brimage in a bantamweight bout at UFC 182. The time of the TKO stoppage at the MGM Grand was 4:50 of the third round.
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A frenzied opening round saw Brimage land two low blow kicks, neither of which were penalized. Garbrandt came on with a huge late flurry, but the horn sounded before he could really capitalized.
Garbrandt also believe he broke his right hand in the opening round, but he pushed through it.
“I think I broke my hand,” he said. “But Faber’s broke both of his hands and he said the mental game is about pushing through.”
In the fast-paced second and third rounds, Garbrandt by and large pushed the action, with the game Brimage hanging in there and landing counters. But in the fight’s closing seconds, Garbrandt got the job done, landing a counter left hook, a right, and a final left to the jaw which dropped Brimage and caused herb Dean to wave it off.
“I saw it in his eyes,” Garbrandt said. “I finished him off with the left hook. It was my night tonight.”
Garbrandt (6-0) has won all his fights by finish. Brimage (7-4) has dropped three of his past four.