Tag: Cody Garbrandt

Cody Garbrandt: Demetrious Johnson Would Beat ‘Slow’ TJ Dillashaw

Although his Octagon return is currently being hindered by a back injury, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt knows who he’d like to fight once he returns. “No Love” was originally scheduled to defend his bantamweight crown against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 in July, however, he was forced to pull out of the contest due […]

The post Cody Garbrandt: Demetrious Johnson Would Beat ‘Slow’ TJ Dillashaw appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Although his Octagon return is currently being hindered by a back injury, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt knows who he’d like to fight once he returns.

“No Love” was originally scheduled to defend his bantamweight crown against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 in July, however, he was forced to pull out of the contest due to his injury. There was initial talk of the UFC being interested in having UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson defend his title against Dillashaw, who would drop down to 125 pounds, but “Mighty Mouse” declined that bout.

If the fight does happen, however, Garbrandt tells MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on today’s (Tues. May 30, 2017) episode of The MMA Hour that he’d like to face the winner (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“If you’re gonna go down to 125, OK, that’s fine,” Garbrandt said. “TJ, if you get beat, I will never fight you. I’m gonna go down and fight Demetrious at 25. You lost that chance. TJ, you go in there and beat DJ, I’m gonna jump down to 25 and steal your belt. That’s what I told [UFC president] Dana [White].”

When asked for a prediction on how a fight between Dillashaw and Johnson would go, “No Love” picked Johnson to emerge victorious because the former 135-pound champ is too ‘slow’:

“I feel like DJ will beat TJ,” Garbrandt said. “TJ is slow. TJ is very slow. I feel like, I went with him [in training]. I know that guy like the back of my hand. I feel like DJ will win that fight.”

LAS VEGAS, NV – DECEMBER 30: (R-L) Cody Garbrandt punches Dominick Cruz in their UFC bantamweight championship bout during the UFC 207 event at T-Mobile Arena on December 30, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

Garbrandt is content to return later this year and defend his title against Dillashaw in dominant fashion, before dropping down to 125 pounds and attempting to be a dual-weight champion:

“I’m gonna finish him and then I want to go and fight Demetrious,” Garbrandt said. “That’s my legacy that I’m creating. TJ is a generic version of everything. He’s a generic version of Dominick Cruz. I wanted to fight Demetrious and now he wants to fight Demetrious.”

The bantamweight champ doubled down on his aspirations to fight Johnson, as “No Love” is looking for the ‘money fight’ and knows he’s the bigger draw at the lower weight classes:

“I’m gonna go down and fight Demetrious,” Garbrandt said. “That’s my goal. I’ve spoken to Demetrious numerous times. That’s my goal after the TJ fight. TJ, first and foremost, but I’m wanting to go down and fight Demetrious right after that.

“They all know that I’m the money fight, and I’m the big fight at the lower weight classes.”

The post Cody Garbrandt: Demetrious Johnson Would Beat ‘Slow’ TJ Dillashaw appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The Ultimate Fighter 25: Redemption Recap

Ramsey Nijem fought his way out of two deep submission attempts by Julian Lane to advance Wednesday night on The Ultimate Fighter 25: Redemption. Nijem scored a first round TKO victory over Lane thanks to some nasty ground-and-pound. Nijem was looking for a submission of his own when the referee stepped in. Through six fights, […]

Ramsey Nijem fought his way out of two deep submission attempts by Julian Lane to advance Wednesday night on The Ultimate Fighter 25: Redemption. Nijem scored a first round TKO victory over Lane thanks to some nasty ground-and-pound. Nijem was looking for a submission of his own when the referee stepped in. Through six fights, […]

TJ Dillashaw vs. Cody Garbrandt Scratched from UFC 213

A back injury will prevent UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt from defending his title against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 on July 8, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN. 
Dillashaw will instead take on flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in August…

A back injury will prevent UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt from defending his title against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 on July 8, per Brett Okamoto of ESPN. 

Dillashaw will instead take on flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson in August.

Women’s champion Amanda Nunes will still defend her title against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213.

Garbrandt originally announced the decision in a since-deleted Facebook post (h/t BJPenn.com), saying the match is not happening.

“No I’m not fighting on the 8th,” he wrote. “This has been my dream to get to the top and I want to have longevity!”

He also said he expects another four weeks of recovery.

The undefeated fighter posted this message on his Twitter account:

Garbrandt underwent stem cell injections to help solve his issues, per Dan Hiergesell of MMA Mania. However, he apparently still needs more time to recover, which will prevent him from competing in the upcoming pay-per-view event.

In an interview with Submission Radio, Dillashaw discussed the possibility of dropping down to the flyweight division to take on Johnson. However, Mighty Mouse has defended his title 10 times already, and he won’t make things easy on the next contender.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Cody Garbrandt Officially Off UFC 213, Dillashaw Headed For HUGE Fight

Cody Garbrandt has officially been ruled off of July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas. Following weeks of speculation that 135-pound champion “No Love” would be unable to participate in his TUF 25-ending bantamweight title grudge match with former teammate and champion TJ Dillashaw, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed that Dana White informed him Garbrandt was […]

The post Cody Garbrandt Officially Off UFC 213, Dillashaw Headed For HUGE Fight appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cody Garbrandt has officially been ruled off of July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas.

Following weeks of speculation that 135-pound champion “No Love” would be unable to participate in his TUF 25-ending bantamweight title grudge match with former teammate and champion TJ Dillashaw, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed that Dana White informed him Garbrandt was indeed out.

With that news, “The Viper” will supposedly take on longtime flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at a yet-to-be-named card in August:

The massive bout had been discussed by White in recent weeks as speculation ramped up that Garbrandt would no longer be able to fight in the UFC 213 co-headliner after going to Germany for a special treatment on a nagging back injury. Garbrandt recently stated he had four weeks of recovery before he could even resume training.

It’s a significant setback after “No Love” maintained a ton of momentum in the months after his dominant five-round decision win over longtime bantamweight ruler Dominick Cruz at last December’s UFC 207. He was slated to take on his former Team Alpha Male training partner Dillashaw, who has most recently scored one-sided wins over John Lineker and Raphael Assuncao in the two bouts following his own controversial split decision loss to Cruz in “The Dominator’s” return in January 2016.

So “The viper” will instead take on the most dominant force in all of mixed martial arts in flyweight champion “Mighty Mouse,” who was most recently seen destroying Wilson Reis in the main event of April’s UFC on FOX 24, a bout that tied Anderson Silva’s record of 20 consecutive title defenses for the 125-pound kingpin. Dillashaw will cut down to 125 pounds to go for his second title.

Johnson has fought at 135 pounds in the past, losing a decision to Cruz back in 2011 before moving down to his more natural home of flyweight to become the only champion the division has ever seen after winning the title against Joseph Benavidez in September 2012.

So overall, though unfortunate, Garbrandt’s withdrawal sets up a very unique situation for the UFC, which has been focused on so-called “money fights” with fighters from different weight classes in 2017, albeit to disastrous results.

But with the recent announcement that Yoel Romero will fight Robert Whittaker for the interim middleweight title after champion Michael Bisping, who was supposed to take on longtime former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at a later date after October, said his recently operated-on knee was not yet fit to fight with, the 185-pound division is set to move on, and now Dillashaw will be able to move forward with his elite career against one of the best fighters the UFC has ever seen.

It’s a golden opportunity to possibly pick up a second title and join the short list of fighters who have accomplished such a legendary feat, but he’ll have to beat the most bulldozing force in MMA to do it. Dillashaw should have the size advantage, yet it’s hard to imagine “Mighty Mouse” being an underdog to any fighter at 135 pounds except Garbrandt.

Do you think “The Viper” has what it takes?

The post Cody Garbrandt Officially Off UFC 213, Dillashaw Headed For HUGE Fight appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cody Garbrandt & TJ Dillashaw Go Off In Heated Twitter War

There’s been much speculation as to whether or not UFC 213’s anticipated Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw fight will actually take place on the July 8 card from Vegas. The two bitter rivals have been going all-out to bash each other on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25: Redemption, with former champion […]

The post Cody Garbrandt & TJ Dillashaw Go Off In Heated Twitter War appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

There’s been much speculation as to whether or not UFC 213’s anticipated Cody Garbrandt vs. TJ Dillashaw fight will actually take place on the July 8 card from Vegas.

The two bitter rivals have been going all-out to bash each other on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 25: Redemption, with former champion Dillashaw’s team taking a commanding 5-0 lead.

The chance to settle those differences is in jeopardy although, as “No Love” went to Germany to receive special treatment for a back injury. He did so, and tweeted he was back in the United States yesterday. That’s when an all-out Twitter war with Dillashaw broke out after Garbrandt affirmed Dillashaw would get his:

Garbrandt took it to a new level responding to an article about “The Viper’s” view that he was ‘mentally weak,’ suggesting that Dillashaw had used PEDs during his run as champion and has not not knocked anyone out – or even down – in the year since:

“No Love” insisted he was focused on getting himself back to health, and the rest would fall into place:

Dillashaw then fired back that his team was 5-0, so he must be sharing his PEDs with them:

Garbrandt responded by noting the show didn’t matter as much as their eventual match-up:

Dillashaw then fired back with the insistence that Garbrandt was downplaying the importance of a venture all the fighters on their season of TUF had put their lives into what he called just a ‘reality show’:

So the beef between two of the world’s top bantamweights has been heightened to an all-new level; something it may not have needed in the first place.

But the real question is when the fight will actually take place based on “No Love’s” back issues are legitimately cleared up. With UFC 213 lacking a true main event and the UFC struggling for true top bouts in 2017, the promotion will be looking for one of their rising stars to make it to the octagon on time.

The post Cody Garbrandt & TJ Dillashaw Go Off In Heated Twitter War appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Cody Garbrandt: TJ Dillashaw ‘Needed To Take PEDs To Be Champion’

UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt might have more time on his hands coming up to continue his verbal feud with TJ Dillashaw. Garbrandt recently returned to the U.S. after going out of the country in hopes of getting his back fixed in time to face Dillashaw in July at UFC 213. All the while, the […]

UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt might have more time on his hands coming up to continue his verbal feud with TJ Dillashaw. Garbrandt recently returned to the U.S. after going out of the country in hopes of getting his back fixed in time to face Dillashaw in July at UFC 213. All the while, the […]