Emotional Garbrandt: ‘I’m Trying To Fight My Heart Out For You Guys’

Cody Garbrandt’s return to the cage at UFC Vegas 27 definitely did not go as planned. The former bantamweight champion had been out for just under a year dealing with long term COVID-19 complications, and while his lungs held up well enough across 5 rounds with Rob Font, he certainly looked a few steps behind his opponent (watch the highlights here).

Font would win the fight 50-45, 50-45, and 48-47 on the judges’ scorecards, and now Garbrandt will have to go back to the drawing board and evolve or he’s going to find himself getting outstruck more in the future. “No Love” was classy in defeat as usual, giving big props to Font. But an emotional live social media video to his fans showed just how hard it is for fighters dealing with a bad loss.

“I’m just really thankful, I wanted to come on here and tell you guys how much I appreciate and love your support,” an emotional Garbrandt says in the clip. “It’s very appreciated. I’m trying to fight my heart out for you guys and … thank you.”

Garbrandt went through a bad three fight losing skid between 2017 and 2019 that was punctuated by injuries before earning a big KO win over Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250 in June of 2020. Then COVID-19 struck and Cody was one of the hardest UFC athletes hit. You never like to see someone take that many punches across five rounds. But there’s a victory in his return and ability to fight 25 minutes against Rob Font, even if he didn’t win the overall fight.