Garbrandt hoping for career turnaround at UFC 285
The former UFC bantamweight champion wants to return to form against Trevin Jones at UFC 285 on Saturday.
Cody Garbrandt wants to turn his career around with a win over Trevin Jones at UFC 285 on Saturday.
Though 1-5 in his past six appearances, the former UFC bantamweight champion says he still has ‘a lot of fight left’ in him, despite the challenges he’s dealt with in his professional and personal life recently. After his first-round TKO loss to Kai Kara-France at UFC 269, Garbrandt revealed he was dealing with a separation from his wife, a move from California to Las Vegas and a series of fight cancellations that saw him sidelined for a year.
Those changes were hard, but the hope is that they’ll prove necessary for Garbrandt, who enters this upcoming fight in the best shape, both physically and mentally.
“This is the best I’ve felt in years,” said Garbrandt at his media day on Wednesday (video provided by MMA Fighting). “My life is great. I’m excited. I’m excited to go out there and showcase my skills on Saturday. I’m a former world champion. I had that going on.
“I’m looking to rebound from the skid that I’ve been on,” continued Garbrandt. “I understand that there’s ups and downs in life, but [I’m] just keeping the balance and that’s what I’ve been doing over the last year. I just need some momentum. You take momentum in this life, in this career. You saw what momentum did in 2016. [I] went from unranked to world champion. That’s all it takes is just one fight at a time and then its the snowball effect. I’ll make it back to the top.”
Now that he feels his best, ‘No Love’ expects his performance to reflect that.
“What happens on Saturday night is already out there,” said Garbrandt. “It’s already going to happen. The work is done and whatever is going to happen is going to happen. I’m very confident in wherever this fight takes place inside that 15 minutes, I’ll get the job done.”
About the author: Kristen King is a writer for Bloody Elbow. She has covered combat sports since 2016. (full bio)