The Rise & Fall of Cody Garbrandt

The Rise & Fall of Cody Garbrandt

By Jordan McKenzie

Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt suffered his third straight knockout loss at UFC 235 leaving his entire career in jeopardy.

In the beautifully manic world of MMA, its remarkable how quickly the entire landscape of a fighter’s career can change, for better or for worse. Rewind the clocks to December 31st 2016 and you will see a young, hungry fighter ready to take on the world at UFC 207.

‘No Love’ Garbrandt enjoyed a stellar start to his MMA career with 10 consecutive wins, 9 of those by knockout, earning him a shot at the UFC bantamweight title against, arguably the greatest bantamweight of all time, Dominick Cruz. Cruz entered the fight as a strong favourite after making his comeback from a two-year absence by defeating Garbrandt’s Alpha Male teammates, Urijah Faber and TJ Dillashaw.

However, the events that unfolded that night sent shockwaves through the MMA world. Cruz, who had forged a career around his innate ability to avoid strikes, was inundated with a barrage of strikes throughout the bout and was sent to the canvas on several occasions. ‘No Love’ displayed an irrepressible amount of confidence and class, never giving Cruz an opportunity to stamp his authority on the fight.

Garbrandt produced a defensive masterclass, at times even dropping his hands and employing an Anderson Silva-like series of dodges and slips to great effect on his way to a unanimous decision victory. Winning the belt in such a convincing manner left Cody with the world at his feet and had Dana White professing that the UFC had found its next major superstar.

Since that day, however, Garbrandt has failed to win a fight. The defensive prowess that was on display in his fight with Cruz has dissipated and the chinks in his armour were made glaringly obvious in his first title defence against, arch rival, Dillashaw at UFC 217.

It all looked so promising for Cody after dropping Dillashaw in the first round, badly hurting TJ who needed to be saved by the bell. When the second round commenced Dillashaw and Garbrandt became embroiled in a gun slinging fest, with the pair trading hooks in the centre of the Octagon. After a flurry of fists, it was Garbrandt who emerged second-best as he was sent to the canvas by a right hook and finished with a burst of hammer fists.

Fast-forward to the rematch at UFC 227 and you would be forgiven for thinking you were watching a replay of the first fight. After a cagey opening round, Garbrandt recklessly rushed into a right hook from Dillashaw, relieving him of all of his faculties. Dillashaw viciously went in for the kill, stopping ‘No Love’ and retaining his belt.

Due to Garbrandt’s impressive start to his MMA career, many fight fans gave him the benefit of the doubt and presumed it was just a case of Dillashaw having his number on this one. ‘No Love’ was booked on to the star-studded UFC 235 card to try to rebuild his career, against Pedro Munhoz, who was on a two-fight win streak himself.

Predominantly a grappler, Munhoz was widely regarded as an underdog and Garbrandt’s striking game was expected to be too much for him to handle. In a Fight Of The Night winning matchup, Cody was in control of the first round until he was hurt by the flailing head of Munhoz and the red mist descended. Garbrandt stormed forward, throwing a barrage of wide hooks, to which Munhoz responded with hooks of his own, leading the pair to trade bombs.

For Garbrandt, it was a case of third time’s a charm as he left his chin wide open for a Munhoz right hook, folding him on the spot and leading to a third consecutive knockout loss, putting his UFC career in limbo.

So that poses the question, what’s next for Cody Garbrandt?