Frenemies? ‘I Hate To See A Fighter Lose His Confidence’

UFC 300 was another rough night at the office for Cody Garbrandt this past weekend (April 13, 2024).

The former Bantamweight champion was on top of the world to close out 2016 with a perfect 11-0 record and his first world title. Unfortunately for Garbrandt, his former teammate turned bitter rival, T.J. Dillashaw, had plans of his own.

Dillashaw and Garbrandt famously battled it out twice across 2017 and 2018 with Dillashaw earning second and first round knockouts over “No Love.” Throughout the span, the pair coached against each other on The Ultimate Fighter 25 (TUF) and had one of the more volatile rivalries in mixed martial arts (MMA) history. Despite all that, Dillashaw was still sad to see Garbrandt suffer a second round arm triangle choke (watch highlights) defeat to Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 300.

“I thought Garbrandt was gonna get the win,” Dillashaw said on JAXXON PODCAST. “I think he’s the all-around better athlete. They both have power, we know that going into the fight. Figueiredo’s got power at ‘25, but it’s translated and we’ve seen it at ‘35s as well, too. Garbrandt’s got power — he’s just so fast. He’s like the fastest person I’ve ever trained with, fought against, insanely fast. His fast twitch is crazy.

“I thought he’d get the win, I was hoping he’d get the win, I was actually rooting for him,” he continued. “Even with all the bulls—t drama going on between him and us fighting each other. I was rooting for him. I hate to see a fighter lose his confidence because when you lose your confidence, your skills go downhill. If you’re not gonna believe in yourself when you get in there then you’re not gonna be able to do what you can do to your fullest.”

Dillashaw, 38, retired in late 2022 after a title fight loss to Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 (watch highlights) in October of that year, citing shoulder injuries as his reason. Never say never, though…

Overall, Garbrandt is 3-6 in his nine fights since he was UFC Bantamweight champion (14-6 overall). Outside of a unanimous decision loss to Rob Font, Garbrandt has been finished in all of his losses (4 KO/TKOs, 1 submission).

“He unfortunately doesn’t have a chin anymore,” Dillashaw said. “People have seen that. He can get cracked and he’s gotten knocked out after I beat him. He got knocked out a few more times, so everyone was ridiculing him for getting knocked out and for being overly aggressive, not having good defense. Now they want to hate him for being too defensive.”

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For complete UFC 300 results and LIVE play-by-play click HERE.