Tag: Cody Garbrandt TJ Dillashaw KO

Cody Garbrandt: TJ Dillashaw Is A “Mental Midget”

Cody Garbrandt made it personal with his longtime rival TJ Dillashaw:

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Former Team Alpha Male teammates-turned-rivals Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw simply don’t like each other. The two have engaged in trash talk ever since the lead up to their first fight at UFC 217.

Now, the two are slated to fight again at UFC 227, and the bickering has already started.

Garbrandt (11-1) said the current bantamweight champion is spoiled and hasn’t overcome real adversity during Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (via MMA Mania):

“T.J. wants to go in there and talk all kinds of shit saying that I don’t deserve this and that, and he worked two years to get it back. He feels like he’s entitled because he’s been living with a silver spoon, getting spoon fed with that thing.”

“He’s never had to overcome any adversity. Hats off to him for being able to come back and get me in the fight, but (we’ll see) come August 4. He can talk all the shit he wants, I’m focused on my book doing well, hopefully it inspires and motivates people around the world.”

Since losing the belt to Dillashaw at UFC 217, “No Love” has become a father and written a book “The Pact,” and has relentlessly skewered Dillashaw (15-3) at every opportunity possible.

Garbrandt appears to be brimming with confidence leading into their highly anticipated rematch, yet still managed to slight Dillashaw in the process:

“He’s kind of a mental midget, he’s got to have those coaches around him, people like that are ‘yes men’ to fill his head. I’m excited for this fight.

“It’s (like he thinks it’s) going to be the Barao fight. I will tell you now, I am no Barao and he knows that. He knows I can keep it up from the first round to the fifth round, the way I whooped his ass like that. He is going to be in for a long night.”

Does Garbrandt have a point about TJ Dillashaw? Or is he just talking trash to a heated rival?

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Cody Garbrandt: TJ Dillashaw Is A “Mental Midget”

Cody Garbrandt made it personal with his longtime rival TJ Dillashaw:

The post Cody Garbrandt: TJ Dillashaw Is A “Mental Midget” appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Former Team Alpha Male teammates-turned-rivals Cody Garbrandt and TJ Dillashaw simply don’t like each other. The two have engaged in trash talk ever since the lead up to their first fight at UFC 217.

Now, the two are slated to fight again at UFC 227, and the bickering has already started.

Garbrandt (11-1) said the current bantamweight champion is spoiled and hasn’t overcome real adversity during Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour (via MMA Mania):

“T.J. wants to go in there and talk all kinds of shit saying that I don’t deserve this and that, and he worked two years to get it back. He feels like he’s entitled because he’s been living with a silver spoon, getting spoon fed with that thing.”

“He’s never had to overcome any adversity. Hats off to him for being able to come back and get me in the fight, but (we’ll see) come August 4. He can talk all the shit he wants, I’m focused on my book doing well, hopefully it inspires and motivates people around the world.”

Since losing the belt to Dillashaw at UFC 217, “No Love” has become a father and written a book “The Pact,” and has relentlessly skewered Dillashaw (15-3) at every opportunity possible.

Garbrandt appears to be brimming with confidence leading into their highly anticipated rematch, yet still managed to slight Dillashaw in the process:

“He’s kind of a mental midget, he’s got to have those coaches around him, people like that are ‘yes men’ to fill his head. I’m excited for this fight.

“It’s (like he thinks it’s) going to be the Barao fight. I will tell you now, I am no Barao and he knows that. He knows I can keep it up from the first round to the fifth round, the way I whooped his ass like that. He is going to be in for a long night.”

Does Garbrandt have a point about TJ Dillashaw? Or is he just talking trash to a heated rival?

The post Cody Garbrandt: TJ Dillashaw Is A “Mental Midget” appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Report: Yair Rodriguez’ UFC Return Set For Stacked PPV

Once-touted featherweight star Yair Rodriguez is finally set to make his UFC return. A report broke tonight from The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire (via MMAjunkie) that the No. 11-ranked 145-pound fighter will return to action on August’s stacked UFC 227 pay-per-view from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and it won’t be an […]

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Once-touted featherweight star Yair Rodriguez is finally set to make his UFC return.

A report broke tonight from The Los Angeles Times’ Lance Pugmire (via MMAjunkie) that the No. 11-ranked 145-pound fighter will return to action on August’s stacked UFC 227 pay-per-view from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and it won’t be an easy comeback fight if the report proves true.

“El Pantera” will reportedly return against surging Russian prospect Zabit Magomedsharipov, marking his first match since he was dominated by former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar in a one-sided, violent stoppage at UFC 211 last May.

He’ll have no easy task in the 15-1 Magomedsharipov, who won an exciting war with Kyle Bochniak in one of this year’s “Fight of the Year’ contenders at UFC 223. ‘ZaBeast’ has won all three of his UFC bouts and has arguably replaced Rodriguez as featherweight’s most touted rising challenger.

Rodriguez won his first six UFC bouts beginning with The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America, and will look to restart a journey back into the top 10 by defeating the lanky, multi-talented Magomedsharipov. Also joining UFC 227 is another reported featherweight bout between Cub Swanson and Renato Moicano. If officially confirmed, the two 145-pound match-ups will join a bantamweight title rematch between rivals TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt.

UFC 227 will also supposedly feature a lightweight match between former middleweight and welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre and Nate Diaz, as well as a light heavyweight bout between former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Alexander Gustafsson, but neither fight has been officially announced.

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TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt II Reportedly Finalized For UFC 227

A blockbuster bantamweight rematch has reportedly been finalized for this summer. News broke tonight (Wed., April 4, 2018) from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the UFC has supposedly booked TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt II for August 4’s UFC 227 from The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The fight is expected to be officially announced […]

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A blockbuster bantamweight rematch has reportedly been finalized for this summer.

News broke tonight (Wed., April 4, 2018) from ESPN’s Brett Okamoto that the UFC has supposedly booked TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt II for August 4’s UFC 227 from The Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.

The fight is expected to be officially announced in the coming days.

Current champion Dillashaw recently won the title back from Garbrandt in the co-main event of last November’s UFC 217 after the archrivals served as coaches of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF). The Denver, Colorado-based ‘Viper’ won the title by knocking out then-pound-for-pound great Renan Barao at UFC 173, defending it twice before losing it to Dominick Cruz via controversial split decision in January 2016.

‘No Love’ then won the title from Cruz in turn at UFC 207, paving the clear path for a rivalry with pre-installed beef from their days as Team Alpha Male teammates and training partners, where Dillashaw left for Denver alongside former TAM head coach Duane Ludwig. The bad blood resulted in a great back-and-forth bout at UFC 207, with ‘No Love’ rocking Dillashaw in the first round and Dillashaw winning the fight with an earth-shattering punch in the second.

Dillashaw had long been rumored to be headed for a super fight with dominant UFC flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, but that fight is apparently off for now, and the bantamweight division’s most awaited rematch sits in its place.

Was this the right fight to make at 135 pounds?

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Quote: TJ Dillashaw vs. Demetrious Johnson Will Happen In July

As a 35-fight MMA veteran, Muay Thai world champion and former UFC fighter Duane Ludwig spent 15 years competing in combat sports. After retiring from fighting in 2012, ‘Bang’ settled into a role as a full-time Muay Thai and MMA striking coach by propelling California’s Team Alpha Male to new heights in a short amount of […]

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As a 35-fight MMA veteran, Muay Thai world champion and former UFC fighter Duane Ludwig spent 15 years competing in combat sports. After retiring from fighting in 2012, ‘Bang’ settled into a role as a full-time Muay Thai and MMA striking coach by propelling California’s Team Alpha Male to new heights in a short amount of time.

In particular, current UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw found the most success from Ludwig’s tutelage. After he won the bantamweight title from Renan Barao at UFC 173 in 2014, Dillashaw and Ludwig moved their fight camp – amidst a highly-publicized spat with TAM that exists to this day – to Colorado where ‘Bang’ opened his own gym.

Since then, Dillashaw lost the title to Dominick Cruz in a close split decision in 2016, before winning it back against Cody Garbrandt after the feud started by Dillashaw and Ludwig moving away from TAM. A possible rematch between Dillashaw and Garbrandt was rumored for March 3’s UFC 222, but Dillashaw and his team were understandably much more interested in a champ vs. champ super fight with dominant flyweight king Demetrious Johnson, although no official details have been confirmed.

Speaking during an interview with Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour today, Ludwig discussed why Dillashaw vs. Johnson is the much better fight:

“The better fight is against Demetrious Johnson, he is the only real big fight for TJ Dillashaw right now. Cody (Garbrandt) doesn’t deserve a rematch. (Cody) got knocked out in the second round, he hasn’t really earned that rematch. I know TJ got dropped in the first round but he came back and knocked Cody out.”

‘Bang’ also detailed why Dillashaw vs. Johnson was the best fight for ‘The Viper’ and why a rematch with Garbrandt was not.

The longtime coach said he understood that new UFC owners Endeavor were trying to make back their investment when featherweight champion Max Holloway was forced out of his headlining bout with Frankie Edgar, but he insisted the timing was wrong for Dillashaw given that he had just had a child, and also thought Garbrandt just didn’t deserve the fight:

“What we’ve got here is an entertainment business taking over a martial arts company. TJ just had a kid, and the timing wasn’t right for the Johnson fight at that time, but the company is trying to make their investment back, but TJ vs. Johnson has to happen. They must really like Cody right now because he doesn’t deserve that rematch.”

He then reiterated their team was looking for the super fight, and that it would happen this July during International Fight Week while touting Dillashaw’s standing as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in his mind:

“We are hunting for that Johnson superfight. TJ is not a big 135-pounder, he has to lift quite a lot make 135 pounds. He is basically between the two weight classes, he could defend both titles. We’ve trained from day one to be the best, our main goal is to see how good we can get him. It’s time to have the two best mixed martial artists in the lower weight classes meet and test TJ’s skill set again Demetrious. The fight with DJ will happen in July, at international fight week, and TJ will be the new 125-pound champion of the world.

“I think right now, TJ is the best fighter in the world regardless of weight class. Who knocked Cody out in the second round, anybody else? No, he ran through Renan Barao twice.”

Yet while it seems Ludwig is only focused on grabbing the highest-profile fight he can for his best student, ‘Bang’ also discussed a bigger picture view of his career as a martial arts coach, noting that he was excited to have a rewarding non-stressful career teaching. He’s apparently parlayed that into a seminar with Dillashaw and Bas Rutten in addition to a few other high-profile names, and wants to use that forum to pass on his wealth of fighting skill to those willing to learn:

“I’m super happy and I just love teaching martial arts. I focus on just teaching martial arts to martial artists, it’s not stressful, it’s pretty much rewardable and enjoyable. I have a huge seminar coming up this weekend.”

“I’ll be in New York this weekend with TJ Dillashaw, Bas Rutten, Andy Souwer, Chinzo Machida and also Shane Fazen. We are going to be doing a three-day seminar in New York City, teaching the best martial arts to all the people we can get together. It’s open to the public.

“I love being the Google of martial arts, finding the best martial artists and picking their brains and passing that information on to the people who are attending.”

So while Ludwig may be the in the media for his connection to Dillashaw, he also wanted to clarify that he doesn’t run an MMA team any longer, and wants to teach the current students at his MMA academy to be the best martial artists they can be:

“I want to help other people become better people and martial artists now. If I was running a fight team still, I would have the best fighters, but I’m running a martial arts academy and I try to teach them to be the best martial artists.”

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Report: Two Huge Replacement Fights Targeted For UFC 222

Earlier today the UFC saw another high-profile title fight fall apart when it was announced featherweight champ Max Holloway had been forced out of his UFC 222 main event versus Frankie Edgar due to injury. The news was extra concerning given that UFC 222 had few other anticipated bouts on the card, but according to […]

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Earlier today the UFC saw another high-profile title fight fall apart when it was announced featherweight champ Max Holloway had been forced out of his UFC 222 main event versus Frankie Edgar due to injury.

The news was extra concerning given that UFC 222 had few other anticipated bouts on the card, but according to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani, the UFC is working on making the card potentially even bigger by adding replacement bouts to the March 3 event from Las Vegas.

Apparently, the UFC is looking to book TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt II for the bantamweight in a rematch of their UFC 217 grudge match, while still giving Edgar to fight on the card against top contender Brian Ortega:

But after Dillashaw knocked out Garbrandt in November, rumors surfaced he was waiting for his oft-teased super fight with record-breaking flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson, a fight that has been discussed for July’s UFC 226.

Helwani spoke to Dillashaw’s coach Duane “Bang” Ludwig, who reiterated they’re still aiming for “Mighty Mouse” because Garbrandt needs to earn a rematch:

Garbrandt fired back at Ludwig’s suggestion, presumably trying to goad Dillashaw into taking a rematch by suggesting he had been nearly out towards the end of the first round of their first bout, something that may be true but also remains a moot point considering Dillashaw came back to finish “No Love” in the second.

Regardless, Garbrandt quickly clapped back by saying he had accepted and the ball was in their camp’s court:

Nothing official has been announced by the promotion for UFC 222’s replacement main event, yet it appears something big is in the works.

Is a bantamweight title rematch the right fight to make? Does the UFC have another option?

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