Cody Garbrandt: I Will Knock Out Dominick Cruz 10 Out Of 10 Times

No. 7-ranked UFC bantamweight prospect Cody “No Love” Garbrandt recently established himself as a legitimate threat with an emphatic knockout victory over the previously unbeaten Thomas Almeida in the main event of May 29’s UFC Fight Night 88 from Las Vegas, Nevada. Even after the tremendous victory, “No Love” may still be a win or

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No. 7-ranked UFC bantamweight prospect Cody “No Love” Garbrandt recently established himself as a legitimate threat with an emphatic knockout victory over the previously unbeaten Thomas Almeida in the main event of May 29’s UFC Fight Night 88 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Even after the tremendous victory, “No Love” may still be a win or two away from a title shot in the resurgent 135-pound division, and he called out No. 4-ranked Bryan Caraway for a bout at UFC 203 after his latest win.

Whatever may lied ahead, Garbrandt will be ready if and when he receives his shot at divisional supremacy.

In fact, “No Love” has been visualizing himself competing against bantamweight kingpin Dominick Cruz for quite some time now, and would be confident that he would put “The Dominator” away if the two were to meet:

“Like I said before, I’ve visualized myself knocking that dude out since I was 16 years old. When he was in the WEC, that’s a guy that I knew I was going to lock horns with one day, and now it’s surreal because it’s almost about to happen. So I have been getting ready for him mentally; putting in the physical camp in and getting the call. He’s a great fighter, but with my style I will knock him out 10 times out of 10.” Garbrandt said during a recent UFC 199 media scrum (Via MMAMania.com).

Garbrandt clearly has his eyes set on the gold, be he can’t get too far ahead of himself. The 24-year-old packs a powerful punch, but Cruz is a master of not getting hit, and “The Dominator” may simply be the best 135-pounder of all-time.

Cruz is coming off of a successful and definitive title defense over long-time rival Urijah Faber, who happens to be a teammate of Garbrandt’s, in the co-main event of last weekend’s (June 4, 2016) UFC 199 from The Forum.

What’s next for Cruz is currently unknown, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see him and “No Love” meet down the line.

Does Garbrandt represent the stiffest test to Cruz’s throne?

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Dominick Cruz & Cody Garbrandt Share Heated Twitter Exchange

UFC bantamweight prospect Cody Garbrandt improved his record to 9-0 at UFC Fight Night 88 with a stunning KO of Thomas Almeida. The Brazilian was on a red hot streak before meeting Garbrandt, with an undefeated record of 21-0, but ‘No Love’ was in no mood for anything more than one round in Vegas. In

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UFC bantamweight prospect Cody Garbrandt improved his record to 9-0 at UFC Fight Night 88 with a stunning KO of Thomas Almeida. The Brazilian was on a red hot streak before meeting Garbrandt, with an undefeated record of 21-0, but ‘No Love’ was in no mood for anything more than one round in Vegas. In a fantastic display of offensive striking and footwork, Garbrandt exposed the holes in Almeida’s defense and scored a game changing first round finish.

With the bantamweight division once again being ruled by Dominick Cruz, there’s a lot of potential fights going on among the contenders, especially now the Team Alpha Male striker has shaken things up.

May 29, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Cody Garbrandt (blue gloves) punches Thomas Almeida (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
May 29, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Cody Garbrandt (blue gloves) punches Thomas Almeida (red gloves) during UFC Fight Night at Mandalay Bay Events Center. Mandatory Credit: Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

Since defeating ‘Terminator’ in such dominant fashion, Garbrandt has called out Bryan Caraway, who defeated Aljamain Sterling by decision at the same event. It looks as though they could potentially duke it out for the rights to the next title shot, but it’s not stopped ‘No Love’ and the current 135-pound champion Dominick Cruz from exchanging a few words.

BOSTON, MA - JANUARY 17: New UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz poses for a portrait backstage after his victory over TJ Dillashaw during the UFC Fight Night event inside TD Garden on January 17, 2016 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)

After a number of harrowing injuries meant Cruz had to vacate the bantamweight title, he returned with a win over Takeya Mizugaki, before coming back in a big way in 2016. Beating the former Team Alpha Male standout TJ Dillashaw to recapture the title, ‘The Dominator’ aligned himself for the trilogy bout with Urijah Faber at UFC 199 this coming Saturday (June 4, 2016).

Check out the Twitter beef on page 2

continue…

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UFC Vegas Medical Suspensions: Bryan Caraway Gets Six Months

With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past at UFC Fight Night 88, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions. Some of the more notable suspensions include Bryan Caraway suffering a shoulder injury and possibly being out until November. Also,

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With every decision comes a consequence and for those fighters who took part in battle this past at UFC Fight Night 88, it’s their time to faces those consequences in the form of medical suspensions.

Some of the more notable suspensions include Bryan Caraway suffering a shoulder injury and possibly being out until November. Also, Thomas Almeida will be out until July after being KO’d by Cody Garbrandt.

UFC Fight Night 88 took place on May 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The first two prelims aired on UFC Fight Pass while the other four prelims followed by the main card aired on FOX Sports 1.

Here are the full UFC Fight Night 88 medical suspensions:

Thomas Almeida: Suspended until July 29; no contact until July 14.

Renan Barao: Suspended until June 29; no contact until June 20 (left frontal scalp laceration).

Tarec Saffiedine: Suspended until July 29; no contact until July 14 (left eyebrow and left knee lacerations).

Chris Camozzi: Suspended until June 29; no contact until June 20 (left foot and right shoulder pain).

Vitor Miranda: Suspended until July 29; no contact until July 14 (left eyebrow laceration).

Joshua Burkman: Must have nose X-rayed within 72 hours. If positive, then must have ear, nose and throat doctor clearance or no contest until Nov. 26. Minimum suspension until June 29; no contact until June 20.

Jordan Rinaldi: Suspended until June 29; no contact until June 20 (left cheek laceration).

Jake Collier: Must have nose X-rayed within 72 hours. If positive, then must have ear, nose and throat doctor clearance or no contest until Nov. 26. Minimum suspension until June 29; no contact until June 20.

Bryan Caraway: Must have ororthopedic doctor clearance of left shoulder and lumbar pain or no contest until Nov. 26. Minimum suspension until June 29; no contact until June 20.

Adam Milstead: Suspended until June 29; no contact until June 20 (right hand pain).

Chris de la Rocha: Must have ear, nose and throat doctor clearance of nasal fracture or no contest until Nov. 26. Minimum suspension until June 29; no contact until June 20.

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UFC Rankings Report: Cody Garbrandt Storms Onto Top 10 In Wild Shakeup

Last Sunday’s (May 29, 2016) UFC Fight Night 88 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, provided a massive shakeup in the bantamweight division that was largely spurred by previously unranked Cody Garbrandt’s thunderous first-round knockout over the previously undefeated (and heavily hyped) Thomas Almeida. The end result was a switch-up of

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Last Sunday’s (May 29, 2016) UFC Fight Night 88 from the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, provided a massive shakeup in the bantamweight division that was largely spurred by previously unranked Cody Garbrandt’s thunderous first-round knockout over the previously undefeated (and heavily hyped) Thomas Almeida.

The end result was a switch-up of a lofty 12 of the 15 spots on the official bantamweight rankings list. Garbrandt came bull-rushing into the Top 10 at No. 7, sending Almeida from that exact spot down to No. 9. The second-most noteworthy move up the rankings was Bryan Caraway’s debut at the No. 4 spot that he stole by coming from behind to beat another highly hyped prospect in Aljamain Sterling, who went down to No. 6 as a result.

Aside from the 135-pounders that fought at UFC Fight Night 88, the top of the division saw its own shakeup as well. Raphael Assuncao, who will return from a significant ankle injury to take on former champion TJ Dillashaw at July 9’s UFC 200, moved up two spots from No. 5 to No. 3 without fighting.

Urijah Faber, who will take on champion Dominick Cruz in the co-main event of this weekend’s (sat., June 4, 2016) UFC 199 from Inglewood, California, rose one spot up to No. 2, while Michael McDonald did the same to land at the No. 5. Rounding out the bantamweight division’s near overhaul, returnee John Dodson moved up two spots to No. 8, while John Lineker rose two spots to sit tied with Almeida at No. 9.

In other significant movement, welterweight champion Robbie Lawler overtook lightweight champ Rafael dos Anjos for the No. 5 spot on the pound-for-pound ranks.

The only division that saw any significant changes was welterweight, where Rick Story rose up one spot to No. 10 after a decision win over Tarec Saffiedine, who fell three spots to No. 13 and allowed Gunnar Nelson and Kelvin Gastelum to move up one spot apiece to Nos. 12 and 13, respectively.

At women’s bantamweight, Jessica Eye dropped three spots to No. 10 after her one-sided decision loss to Sara McMann, which allowed Raqual Pennington to move up a spot to No. 9, and Valentina Shevchenko moved up two spots to No. 7 heading into her huge main event against Holly Holm on July 23.

Here are the fully updated rankings courtesy of UFC.com:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Jon Jones
2 Demetrious Johnson
3 Luke Rockhold
4 Dominick Cruz
5 Robbie Lawler
6 Rafael Dos Anjos
7 Conor McGregor
8 Daniel Cormier
9 Jose Aldo
10 Chris Weidman
11 Frankie Edgar
12 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
13 Stipe Miocic
14 TJ Dillashaw
15 Fabricio Werdum

FLYWEIGHT
Champion : Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Jussier Formiga
4 Kyoji Horiguchi
5 Ian McCall
6 John Moraga
7 Zach Makovsky
8 Wilson Reis
9 Dustin Ortiz
10 Ali Bagautinov
11 Justin Scoggins
12 Louis Smolka
13 Ray Borg
14 Sergio Pettis
15 Ben Nguyen

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Dominick Cruz
1 TJ Dillashaw
2 Urijah Faber
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Bryan Caraway
5 Michael McDonald
6 Aljamain Sterling
7 Cody Garbrandt *NR
8 John Dodson
9 Thomas Almeida
9 John Lineker
11 Takeya Mizugaki
12 Frankie Saenz
13 Johnny Eduardo
14 Jimmie Rivera
15 Eddie Wineland

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion : Conor McGregor
1 Jose Aldo
2 Frankie Edgar
3 Chad Mendes
4 Max Holloway
5 Ricardo Lamas
6 Cub Swanson
7 Charles Oliveira
8 Jeremy Stephens
9 Dennis Bermudez
10 Hacran Dias
11 Darren Elkins
12 Brian Ortega
13 Tatsuya Kawajiri
14 Yair Rodriguez
15 Mirsad Bektic

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion : Rafael Dos Anjos
1 Khabib Nurmagomedov
2 Eddie Alvarez
3 Tony Ferguson
4 Donald Cerrone
5 Nate Diaz
6 Edson Barboza
7 Anthony Pettis
8 Michael Johnson
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Beneil Dariush
11 Dustin Poirier
12 Al Iaquinta
13 Bobby Green
14 Rashid Magomedov
15 Evan Dunham

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion : Robbie Lawler
1 Rory MacDonald
2 Stephen Thompson
3 Tyron Woodley
4 Demian Maia
5 Carlos Condit
6 Johny Hendricks
7 Neil Magny
8 Matt Brown
9 Dong Hyun Kim
10 Rick Story
11 Gunnar Nelson
12 Kelvin Gastelum
13 Tarec Saffiedine
14 Hector Lombard
15 Thiago Alves
MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion : Luke Rockhold
1 Chris Weidman
2 Jacare Souza
3 Vitor Belfort
4 Michael Bisping
5 Anderson Silva
6 Robert Whittaker
7 Lyoto Machida
8 Gegard Mousasi
9 Tim Kennedy
10 Uriah Hall
11 Derek Brunson
12 Thales Leites
13 Rafael Natal
14 Thiago Santos
15 Dan Henderson

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Daniel Cormier
1 Jon Jones (Interim Champion)
2 Anthony Johnson
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Alexander Gustafsson
5 Ryan Bader
6 Ovince Saint Preux
7 Mauricio Rua
8 Rashad Evans
9 Jimi Manuwa
10 Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
11 Nikita Krylov
12 Corey Anderson
13 Ilir Latifi
14 Patrick Cummins
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion : Stipe Miocic
1 Fabricio Werdum
2 Cain Velasquez
3 Alistair Overeem
4 Junior Dos Santos
5 Ben Rothwell
6 Andrei Arlovski
7 Travis Browne
8 Mark Hunt
9 Josh Barnett
10 Roy Nelson
11 Derrick Lewis
12 Frank Mir
13 Stefan Struve
14 Ruslan Magomedov
15 Alexey Oliynyk

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion : Joanna Jedrzejczyk
1 Claudia Gadelha
2 Carla Esparza
3 Rose Namajunas
4 Tecia Torres
5 Valerie Letourneau
6 Jessica Penne
7 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
8 Paige VanZant
9 Maryna Moroz
10 Michelle Waterson
11 Joanne Calderwood
12 Randa Markos
13 Jessica Aguilar
14 Juliana Lima
15 Justine Kish

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion : Miesha Tate
1 Holly Holm
2 Ronda Rousey
3 Cat Zingano
4 Amanda Nunes
5 Julianna Pena
6 Sara McMann
7 Valentina Shevchenko
8 Liz Carmouche
9 Raquel Pennington
10 Jessica Eye
11 Bethe Correia
12 Germaine de Randamie
13 Lauren Murphy
14 Ashlee Evans-Smith
15 Marion Reneau

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Cody Garbrandt Targeting Title Eliminator With Bryan Caraway At UFC 203

Cody “No Love” Garbrandt established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the intriguing 135-pound division with a breath taking first round knockout of the previously surging Thomas Almeida in the main event of last weekend’s (May 29, 2016) UFC Fight Night 88 from Las Vegas, Nevada. In the aftermath of such an

The post Cody Garbrandt Targeting Title Eliminator With Bryan Caraway At UFC 203 appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Cody “No Love” Garbrandt established himself as a force to be reckoned with in the intriguing 135-pound division with a breath taking first round knockout of the previously surging Thomas Almeida in the main event of last weekend’s (May 29, 2016) UFC Fight Night 88 from Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the aftermath of such an emphatic victory, Garbrandt knows exactly what he wants next: a title eliminator bout with Bryan Caraway at September 10’s UFC 203 from his home of Ohio:

“Going into the fight with Thomas Almeida, Aljamain Sterling and Bryan Caraway were match up, too. And they were talking about the winners facing each other. And I have no doubt in my mind that if Aljamain had won, we’d be fighting. Bryan won, so why shouldn’t I be fighting Bryan for the next in line for a title shot or that ranking up there. I think I just got ranked fifth, he’s fourth. So let’s fight on September 10. I’ve seen him do some bantering in the media about how I do not deserve to be ahead of him. But my win was dominant with no questions.” Garbrandt told Ariel Helwani on a recent edition of The MMA Hour.

Caraway did indeed compete at UFC Fight Night 88 as well, scoring a decisive decision victory over the previously red hot Sterling.

“No Love”, however, feels as if his victory over Almeida was more impressive, and would like to test his hands on the jaw of “Kid Lightning”:

“You had a close fight with Aljamain and I went in there and destroyed my adversary in under three minutes who was looked at as untouchable and unbeatable. So I deserve to not only have the title shot in front of him, but he says he has the strongest jaw, a good chin. He credits himself with having the best jaw and chin in the UFC division, well, I have the heaviest hands in my division. I’m the hardest punchers, the fastest, so why don’t we put those to the test? No disrespect, but let’s fight September 10 in Cleveland at the Q for the number one contender’s spot.”

The fight sure seems to make sense given the current landscape of the division, as well as from a rankings standpoint.

Who would you pick to come out victorious if these two end up throwing down?

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UFC Fight Night 88 Salaries: Jeremy Stephens Tops List With $100,000 Payday

Following a successful UFC Fight Night 88 event this past Sunday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, the fighter salaries have surfaced online.

Leading the payroll for this past Sunday’s event, which UFC President Dana White called the “sleeper card of the …

jeremy-stephens

Following a successful UFC Fight Night 88 event this past Sunday night in Las Vegas, Nevada, the fighter salaries have surfaced online.

Leading the payroll for this past Sunday’s event, which UFC President Dana White called the “sleeper card of the year,” was Jeremy Stephens. “Lil Heathen” Stephens earned a reported $100,000 payday for his victory over former UFC Bantamweight Champion Renan Barao in Barao’s featherweight debut.

Below are the complete UFN 88 fighter salaries, according to figures released by the Nevada Athletic Commission:

Main Card (FOX Sports 1):

Cody Garbrandt ($24,000 + $24,000 = $48,000) def. Thomas Almeida ($25,000)
Jeremy Stephens ($50,000 + $50,000 = $100,000) def. Renan Barao ($50,000)
Rick Story ($38,000 + $38,000 = $76,000) def. Tarec Saffiedine ($37,000)
Chris Camozzi ($36,000 + $36,000 = $72,000) vs. Vitor Miranda ($18,000)
Lorenz Larkin ($36,000 + $36,000 = $72,000) def. Jorge Masvidal ($57,000)
Paul Felder ($21,000 + $21,000 = $42,000) def. Josh Burkman ($48,000)

Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1):

Sara McMann ($25,000 + $25,000 = $50,000) def. Jessica Eye ($25,000)
Abel Trujillo ($26,000 + $26,000 = $52,000) def. Jordan Rinaldi ($10,000)
Jake Collier ($15,000 + $15,000 = $30,000) def. Alberto Uda ($10,000)
Erik Koch ($21,000 + $21,000 = $42,000) def. Shane Campbell ($15,000)

Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass):

Bryan Caraway ($18,000 + $18,000 = $36,000) def. Aljamain Sterling ($30,000)
Adam Milstead ($10,000 + $10,000 = $20,000) def. Chris De La Rocha ($10,000)