Cody Garbrandt - It’s Time to Call it

Cody Garbrandt’s rise to stardom and UFC gold is something we haven’t seen and are unlikely to see again any time soon. From unranked to world champion in a year is unprecedented and ‘No Love’ did just that back in 2016.

Since reaching the pinnacle of the sport and becoming a world champion in dominating fashion, his career took a considerable downward trajectory. As champion, he was 11-0. Since that win at UFC 207, his record sits at 4-8, but worryingly he’s suffered six finishes, of which five are knockouts. 

At 35, it appears that Cody Garbrandt is ready to call it time on his memorable career.

Cody Garbrandt Ready to Call Time on Career

No Love shows Power

Early on in his career, Cody Garbrandt showed his boxing background off with devastating knockouts on his way to the UFC. He recorded five knockouts on the regional scene before signing with the UFC and continued that knockout form in the big leagues, TKOing Marcus Brimage on his UFC debut.

After just three UFC fights, Garbrandt would feature in his first main event, a fight night against fellow dangerous prospect and undefeated bantamweight, Thomas Almeida. The Brazilian had 21 wins with 20 finishes but that wouldn’t intimidate No Love. It took the American just 2:53 to utilise his superior power and speed to knockout Almeida and prove to everyone that he was more than just a heavy handed prospect.

Next came Takeya Mizugaki, a well regarded veteran and someone who, on paper, could cause Garbrandt issues. It wasn’t to be, however. No Love blasted Mizugaki away in just 0:48 in the UFC 202 prelim headline slot.

This was enough to earn him a title shot against a man who had constantly got the better of members of Garbrandt’s gym, Team Alpha Male. That man was the consensus bantamweight GOAT, Dominick Cruz. The champion was coming off the back of two wins over TJ Dillashaw and Urijah Faber, two teammates of Garbrandt in times gone by.

UFC 207 and Dillashaw Rivalry

UFC 207 was a huge event in itself. It marked the return of Ronda Rousey after her hiatus from the UFC and there were plenty of eyes on the event.

Walking out to his iconic ‘We will rock you’ entrance music, Garbrandt was locked in and ready to put on a show. What played out saw No Love dominate Cruz.

He styled on him, knocked him down multiple times, mocked him, bloodied him and taunted his foe throughout on his way to a dominant victory. He’d done it. He’d reached the pinnacle of the sport, undefeated and did so against one of the best to ever do it.

Shortly after his bantamweight title success, Garbrandt was announced as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter against TJ Dillashaw, his former teammate at Team Alpha Male. The two built up to their fight with a bitterness we didn’t expect, with things getting physical and Garbrandt looking to get into Dillashaw at every opportunity. 

Due to an injury to the champion, their bout was delayed and took place in November 2017. After a strong first round where he knocked Dillashaw down, Garbrandt stepped into range again with Dillashaw in the second, but this time, it would be Dillashaw who came out on top. In the pocket, Dillashaw capitalised on a lazy defence from Garbrandt, caught him with a right hook and finished him. He screamed in the face of a confused Garbrandt and the undefeated record was no more.

The rematch took place at UFC 227, this time the ending would be even more conclusive. He would again enter the pocket, throw looping, wide hooks with little concern for his defence and suffer the consequences. Dillashaw dropped No Love and although he worked back to his feet, follow up attacks from Dillashaw ended the night prematurely for Garbrandt.

His decline in form certainly goes hand in hand with a bad back injury that he suffered, which led to him having to get stem cell treatment. With that being said, a back injury doesn’t improve fight IQ or durability in taking shots, something that Garbrandt clearly struggles with.

Post Championship Career

After losing to Dillashaw twice, Garbrandt would face Pedro Munhoz and yet again, it was clear he hadn’t learnt from his mistakes. He stepped into the pocket and was finished in the first round…again.

He go back to form at UFC 250 with a devastating knockout over Raphael Assuncao but next time out, he was dominated across five rounds at the hands of Rob Font. This was the first time that we’d seen Garbrandt truly outclassed over the distance. His previous losses saw him get caught and knocked out.

A move down to flyweight was arguably ill-advised. Although he was quick at bantamweight and heavy handed, depleting his brain of fluid wasn’t going to help his durability. He took on Kai-Kara France and in a surprise to nobody, was finished in the first round.

The flyweight career didn’t last long and he would put together back to back wins in 2023 for the first time since 2016 but an outing at UFC 300 showed he was never going to be championship material again as he was dominated by Deiveson Figueiredo. A loss to Raoni Barcelos did nothing more than confirm this.

His final win came in a strange fight against Ziao Long at UFC 326. The latter was deducted two points in round three due to multiple groin strikes. So impactful were these strikes that we saw Garbrandt forced to use a bucket to be sick in, inside the octagon…

Interestingly, he won the fight 28-27 on all three scorecards. Without the point deductions, he would have lost his third fight in a row.

Most recently he was matched with Adrian Yanez at UFC 329 in a fight of men who had once been ranked and were now in the business of putting on entertaining fights for the fans without troubling the top men of the division.

Yet again we saw Cody Garbrandt step into the fire, into the pocket and pay the ultimate price for it. No Love was on the receiving end of yet another first round knockout loss, a theme of his career.

Time to Call it for No Love? 

Exiting the UFC 329 octagon, Cody Garbrandt seemingly looked to take his gloves off and admit defeat. It’s likely that we will never see the American back in the octagon. At 35, he has a young family, no longer needs to prove to anyone his ability to fight and ultimately, needs to consider his long term health over any future wins.

From a career that promised so much, Cody Garbrandt hasn’t lived up to expectations. After achieving a fete that many believed he wouldn’t be capable of when he beat Cruz at UFC 207, poor fight IQ and a lack of durability are ultimately what caused No Love’s career to fizzle out.

From unranked to champion in a year and sitting high on the UFCs list of stars leaving 2016, he’ll likely leave the promotion 10 years later with five knockout losses, eight overall losses and a career that feels like it didn’t meet the potential he had.

With that being said, no one can ever erase his name from the history of bantamweight champions and no one will forget the performance he put on at UFC 207.