France Demolishes Garbrandt With Brutal First Round Stop!

Former Bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt, has not had much success inside the Octagon in four years, winning just one fight in five attempts. So, “No Love” made the decision to drop 10 pounds and compete at Flyweight at UFC 269 tonight (Sat., Dec. 11, 2021) against No. 6-seeded 125-pound contender, Kai Kara-France, inside T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

There were concerns that the weight cut could affect his already suspect chin further, and those concerns were absolutely correct, with France beating Garbrandt from pillar to post en route to a first round stoppage win.

Garbrandt looked good in his corner, holding the height edge but not the reach. The pair traded jabs to get the action going, with Garbrandt scoring a low kick on the next exchange. France with the early pressure, chasing Garbrandt around the Octagon, looking to cut him off and at the same time avoid his power. France with a switch kick along the fence, but it was blocked. Low inside kick from France, with a right hand counter from Garbrandt. Then out of nowhere France dropped him with a hard shot, with Garbrandt getting back to his feet quickly. He was hurt, though, and France chased him around the cage looking to seal the deal. Garbrandt waived him in as if he wasn’t really hurt and France was more than willing to oblige, drilling “No Love” with more shots along the fence that had him hurt bad. Garbrandt tried a desperation takedown, but France pushed him off and went back to work. He cleaned his clock again with an overhand right and he bounced off the fence, where France landed the final blow that put Garbrandt down for the count.

Woo! What a nice piece of striking from France, who now has strung together back-to-back wins heading into the New Year. As for Garbrandt? Who knows … his drop to 125 pounds was not the answer to his inability to remain upright inside the Octagon.

Back to the drawing board … again.

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