‘No Bantamweight Moves The Needle Like I Do’

Cody Garbrandt’s time atop Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) Bantamweight division feels like a century ago.

The 32-year-old knockout artist rose through the 135-pound weight class quickly upon his promotional arrival in 2015. By the end of 2016, Garbrandt captured the title via a stunning unanimous decision upset over all-time great titleholder, Dominick Cruz, at UFC 207. Unfortunately for “No Love,” his plummet from the top of the mountain was bumpy, as he lost five of the six bouts he had after becoming champion.

Garbrandt got back on track in 2023 after missing all of 2022. He rides a two-fight winning streak into his first bout of 2024 against a fellow former champion, Deiveson Figueiredo, at UFC 300 this weekend (Sat., April 13, 2024). A win over the Brazilian would continue to push Garbrandt back toward his ultimate goal of regaining the title, which would mean a date with current titlist, Sean O’Malley.

“Definitely, if he’s still the champion once it’s my time to fight for the title again and regain the title, I should say, then I’m happy with that fight,” Garbrandt said at UFC 300 media day. “That’s gonna be a huge pay-per-view draw. No other Bantamweight in the division moves the needle like I do. I just gotta focus on winning and everything else will fall into place.”

Bad blood has boiled between Garbrandt and O’Malley in the past despite never fighting each other. The pair of strikers fought in separate outings at UFC 269 in December 2021. Infamously, they traded verbal jabs and almost came to blows at the pre-fight press conference that fight week. In the end, Garbrandt suffered a first round technical knockout loss to Kai Kara-France in his Flyweight debut while O’Malley scored a first round technical knockout over Raulian Paiva in his Bantamweight bout directly prior.

---

MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 300 fight card right RIGHT HERE, starting with the early ESPN/ESPN+ “Prelims” matches at 6 p.m. ET, followed by the remaining undercard balance on ESPN/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the UFC 300 PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

To check out the latest and greatest UFC 300: “Pereira vs. Hill” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive UFC 300 event archive right here. For the updated and finalized UFC 300 fight card and PPV lineup click here.