Cody Garbrandt Officially Off UFC 213, Dillashaw Headed For HUGE Fight
Cody Garbrandt has officially been ruled off of July 8’s UFC 213 from Las Vegas.
Following weeks of speculation that 135-pound champion “No Love” would be unable to participate in his TUF 25-ending bantamweight title grudge match with former teammate and champion TJ Dillashaw, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed that Dana White informed him Garbrandt was indeed out.
With that news, “The Viper” will supposedly take on longtime flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson at a yet-to-be-named card in August:
Dana White also tells me Cody Garbrandt is officially off UFC 213 and that plan is to have TJ Dillashaw fight Demetrious Johnson in August.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) May 24, 2017
The massive bout had been discussed by White in recent weeks as speculation ramped up that Garbrandt would no longer be able to fight in the UFC 213 co-headliner after going to Germany for a special treatment on a nagging back injury. Garbrandt recently stated he had four weeks of recovery before he could even resume training.
It’s a significant setback after “No Love” maintained a ton of momentum in the months after his dominant five-round decision win over longtime bantamweight ruler Dominick Cruz at last December’s UFC 207. He was slated to take on his former Team Alpha Male training partner Dillashaw, who has most recently scored one-sided wins over John Lineker and Raphael Assuncao in the two bouts following his own controversial split decision loss to Cruz in “The Dominator’s” return in January 2016.
So “The viper” will instead take on the most dominant force in all of mixed martial arts in flyweight champion “Mighty Mouse,” who was most recently seen destroying Wilson Reis in the main event of April’s UFC on FOX 24, a bout that tied Anderson Silva’s record of 20 consecutive title defenses for the 125-pound kingpin. Dillashaw will cut down to 125 pounds to go for his second title.
Johnson has fought at 135 pounds in the past, losing a decision to Cruz back in 2011 before moving down to his more natural home of flyweight to become the only champion the division has ever seen after winning the title against Joseph Benavidez in September 2012.
So overall, though unfortunate, Garbrandt’s withdrawal sets up a very unique situation for the UFC, which has been focused on so-called “money fights” with fighters from different weight classes in 2017, albeit to disastrous results.
But with the recent announcement that Yoel Romero will fight Robert Whittaker for the interim middleweight title after champion Michael Bisping, who was supposed to take on longtime former welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at a later date after October, said his recently operated-on knee was not yet fit to fight with, the 185-pound division is set to move on, and now Dillashaw will be able to move forward with his elite career against one of the best fighters the UFC has ever seen.
It’s a golden opportunity to possibly pick up a second title and join the short list of fighters who have accomplished such a legendary feat, but he’ll have to beat the most bulldozing force in MMA to do it. Dillashaw should have the size advantage, yet it’s hard to imagine “Mighty Mouse” being an underdog to any fighter at 135 pounds except Garbrandt.
Do you think “The Viper” has what it takes?
