Cody Garbrandt: Demetrious Johnson Would Beat ‘Slow’ TJ Dillashaw

Although his Octagon return is currently being hindered by a back injury, UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt knows who he’d like to fight once he returns.

“No Love” was originally scheduled to defend his bantamweight crown against TJ Dillashaw at UFC 213 in July, however, he was forced to pull out of the contest due to his injury. There was initial talk of the UFC being interested in having UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson defend his title against Dillashaw, who would drop down to 125 pounds, but “Mighty Mouse” declined that bout.

If the fight does happen, however, Garbrandt tells MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on today’s (Tues. May 30, 2017) episode of The MMA Hour that he’d like to face the winner (quotes via MMA Fighting):

“If you’re gonna go down to 125, OK, that’s fine,” Garbrandt said. “TJ, if you get beat, I will never fight you. I’m gonna go down and fight Demetrious at 25. You lost that chance. TJ, you go in there and beat DJ, I’m gonna jump down to 25 and steal your belt. That’s what I told [UFC president] Dana [White].”

When asked for a prediction on how a fight between Dillashaw and Johnson would go, “No Love” picked Johnson to emerge victorious because the former 135-pound champ is too ‘slow’:

“I feel like DJ will beat TJ,” Garbrandt said. “TJ is slow. TJ is very slow. I feel like, I went with him [in training]. I know that guy like the back of my hand. I feel like DJ will win that fight.”

Garbrandt is content to return later this year and defend his title against Dillashaw in dominant fashion, before dropping down to 125 pounds and attempting to be a dual-weight champion:

“I’m gonna finish him and then I want to go and fight Demetrious,” Garbrandt said. “That’s my legacy that I’m creating. TJ is a generic version of everything. He’s a generic version of Dominick Cruz. I wanted to fight Demetrious and now he wants to fight Demetrious.”

The bantamweight champ doubled down on his aspirations to fight Johnson, as “No Love” is looking for the ‘money fight’ and knows he’s the bigger draw at the lower weight classes:

“I’m gonna go down and fight Demetrious,” Garbrandt said. “That’s my goal. I’ve spoken to Demetrious numerous times. That’s my goal after the TJ fight. TJ, first and foremost, but I’m wanting to go down and fight Demetrious right after that.

“They all know that I’m the money fight, and I’m the big fight at the lower weight classes.”