TJ Dillashaw: Cody Garbrandt Could Be UFC Champ Again, 'No Love' Needs Confidence Back
Dillashaw says Garbrandt "losing confidence" in his chin cost him at UFC 300.
Believe it or not, TJ Dillashaw was rooting for Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300.
From once training together as teammates to fighting each other for titles, the two former champions hold one of the most heated rivalries we've seen in UFC history. Dillashaw would go 2-0 in the series, TKO'ing Garbrandt both times to regain and retain the UFC Bantamweight title in 2017-18.
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The hatchet was never really buried between Dillashaw and Garbrandt, especially after Dillashaw tested positive for EPO for a follow-up fight against Henry Cejudo, where he was subsequently suspended by USADA in 2019 and stripped of his title.
That was many moons ago though and Dillashaw predicted his old rival to make it three wins in a row when he faced off with former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo last weekend. Things started to go Garbrandt's way in the opening round but the momentum soon changed in the second round after Figueiredo utilized his grappling to submit Garbrandt with a rear-naked choke.
"I thought that he'd get the win," Dillashaw said of Garbrandt on 'The Jaxxon Podcast'. "I was hoping he'd get the win. I was actually rooting for him, even with all the bulls*** drama going on between him and us fighting each other. I was rooting for him."
Ever since losing the title to Dillashaw at UFC 217, Garbrandt's career has never been the same. "No Love" was stopped with strikes four times in four years, going 1-5 before finally putting together a win streak in 2023.
While Garbrandt wasn't knocked out in his latest loss to Figueiredo, Dillashaw believes the stem of his defeats come from a lack of confidence in his world-class abilities.
"I hate to see a fighter lose his confidence and 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 know you're not gonna be able to do what you could do to the fullest.
"That's one of my biggest strengths is my belief and my optimism. But, it's also my biggest fault at the same time. That's why I'm in the position I'm in right now because I'm taking fights with one arm," Dillashaw added, referencing the injuries that have kept him out of competition since Oct. 2022.
Dillashaw explains the differences between the Cody Garbrandt that became world champ in 2016 and the perhaps "too cautious" version we saw of him at UFC 300 last Saturday.
"I thought Cody was gonna get this fight. The first round, he looked good. He's cautious, right? Which he kinda has to be because of the way his career's been panning out recently of getting caught and people talking s*** about him fighting angry and this and that. But, he's almost being too cautious.
"Obviously, I understand why he is doing it. He doesn't want another knockout and be ridiculed for it. But, when he's his best is when he's fighting is when he fought Dominick Cruz, when he's just like feeling the flow, confident in his skills, confident in his power, he is not worried, right? But now he's fighting a little bit scared. Like instead of countering there, he's backing out."
Going from "overly agressive" to "too defensive", Dillashaw says there needs to be a balance for Garbrandt to get back to where he used to be in the UFC Bantamweight division, a champion once again.
Although that may be harder than it looks as former UFC Champion "Rampage" Jackson pointed out Garbrandt may be too "gun-shy" in his exchanges after experiencing a handful of KO losses earlier in his career.
"That's a hundred percent what's going on," Dillashaw said of Jackson's theory. "That's why, like I said, like he lost his confidence unfortunately. Cause the guy's a f****** killer. He's super f****** fast. He's got power. His wrestling's amazing. He could be a world champion again. Again, I think it's losing that confidence in your chin."
Following his defeat at UFC 300, Cody Garbrandt says he was feeling great in the fight vs. Deiveson Figueiredo until he started experiencing Vertigo in the second round. The former champ says he's been dealing with the spinning side effects of Vertigo off and on since 2012.
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