‘He Can’t Beat Me When I’m Focused’- Cody Garbrandt Breaks Down His Losses to T.J. Dillashaw

Cody Garbrandt was an undefeated champion and the best bantamweight on the planet when he faced his former teammate T.J. Dillashaw for the first time at UFC 217. ‘No Love’ was stopped by strikes in the 2nd round suffering his first loss as a professional. Garbrandt re-matched Killashaw’ at UFC 227.

But this time, ‘No Love’ suffered an opening round defeat. Subsequently, Pedro Munhoz stopped him in the first five minutes as well. What’s common between his losses was his brawling style. He seemed to forget about technique and came out with his chin up in the air as if he was in a phone booth fight. Eventually, he paid for his emotions too.

Speaking to Joe Rogan on the JRE podcast, ‘No Love’ said, “My mental state was not what it should have been to go in against a guy like TJ, you know, and we can fast forward to where, you know, he got popped, and this and that TJ can be on that stuff, he can be on that stuff. And he still can’t beat me, when I’m focused.”

“I’m mentally there, I’m in there. And I’m excited. You know, like, I’m glad that he’s coming back. He’s got to prove to himself, you know, and that’s a big fight for me to come back to, you know, in the future, there’s, it’s gonna, that’s gonna happen.”

“You know, I feel like TJ caught me at a time where mentally I was not in the best state of mind to go in there and be a champion. And that’s why it was taken from me,” Garbrandt added.

‘No Love’ has not fought since UFC 250 and saw a bout against flyweight kingpin, Deiveson Figueiredo scrapped in 2020.

Who should Cody Garbrandt fight next?

It’s true that Garbrandt’s lack of emotional control has cost him dearly recently in his career. But, he seems to be on a resurgence and is in better control of his mentality. He arrested his three-fight skid with a phenomenal one-punch KO over Raphael Assuncao at the UFC’s first PPV at the UFC Apex.

Now, ‘No Love‘ is looking to build on that and is currently eyeing a fight against former UFC featherweight kingpin, Jose Aldo. He believes a win over ‘The King of Rio’ will propel him to a title shot.

What did you make of Cody Garbrandt’s assessment of his losses to T.J. Dillashaw?

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