What’s the story?
The newly crowned UFC Bantamweight Champion, Cody Garbrandt, never seems to go out of the news since his stunning win over Dominic Cruz at UFC 207. Cody has earned a lot of fans due to his incredible performance in his last fight and his fans are pretty excited to see him fight again.
When TMZ sports asked him in an interview about who he would like to face next, Cody had quite a few names of his list. His list had TJ Dillashaw, Jeremy Stephens, Jose Aldo and a rematch with Dominic Cruz, but the most interesting name on his list was the Notorious One, Conor McGregor, himself.
In case you didn’t know..
Cody Garbrandt has been undefeated in his career with an impressive record of 11-0. Recently, he handed Dominic Cruz his first loss in about a decade. Conor McGregor, too, experienced similar trends in his career when he defeated the long time champ Jose Aldo in just thirteen seconds.
Conor McGregor is currently on a break from fighting due to his girlfriend’s pregnancy and is expected to return around May this year.
Heart of the matter:
Cody Garbrandt has been the talk of the town for the past few weeks in the world of MMA. When TMZ Sports asked him about whom he would like to face in his next, he had quite an interesting reply. He named TJ Dillashaw as someone who he would like to face next. He even called Dillashaw a ‘fake champion’ who held a ‘fake belt’.
Cody said that he would like to have a rematch with Dominic Cruz, but said that Cruz has rejected the fight because he is afraid of losing to him again. He said that outside his division, he would like to face Conor McGregor and Jose Aldo.
He also named Jeremy Stephens as someone whom he would like to face.
Conor and Cody do have a little bit of history in between them. There’s an old video of them almost getting physical in an episode of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’.
What’s Next?
A fight between Conor and Cody would definitely be a blockbuster. Both of them are known for their outright interviews and taunts at their opponents. They are among the best showboaters in the business as of now and it would be great to see them battle it out against each other if in case a fight between them ever materializes.
Sportskeeda’s Take:
While the fight seems to an intriguing one on paper, there is very less chance of it actually materializing in the near future. First of all, it would be an incredibly difficult weight cut for the Irishman. With Cody currently fighting at Bantamweight and Conor being the Lightweight Champ, the fight would need a lot of work from both the fighters to fit into the same class.
It has to be noted that Conor has been fighting at Lightweight and Welterweight for the past year and with him on a break from fighting for quite some time, even a weight-cut to Featherweight, let alone Bantamweight, would be an uphill task for the Notorious One.
