Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is eyeing gold in another weight class.
Garbrandt had expressed interest in a move to the 125-pound division before his UFC 250 bout with Raphael Assuncao. He appeared to have second thoughts after knocking Assuncao out cold. As it turns out, “No Love” is still interested in moving down to challenge for the flyweight championship.
Cody Garbrandt Wants Deiveson Figueiredo Bout For UFC Flyweight Title
Garbrandt spoke to ESPN’s Brett Okamoto and revealed that as far as he knows, he is next in line for a crack at Figueiredo’s flyweight gold (h/t BJPenn.com).
“As far as I know [I’m the number one contender]. I don’t have a contract in hand, I’m waiting on that with Ali and Dana, and Sean and Mick,” Cody Garbrandt said to ESPN. “I’ve actually been vocal about going to ’25 for quite some time. We spoke about it in the past before the Assuncao fight. I feel like it is great, I’m able to do it now, early still in my career. I just turned 29, go down to ’25, challenge and win the belt there and then go back up to 135-pounds and compete with the best of them there.”
Garbandt went on to say that he doesn’t feel Figueiredo is on his level. In fact, he doesn’t believe any 125-pounder can match his skills. While there are already worthy contenders such as Brandon Moreno, Alex Perez, and Askar Askarov, the perception is that Garbrandt has the edge in name recognition.
Figueiredo captured the flyweight gold in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 30. He choked out Joseph Benavidez in the opening round of their rematch. He has only suffered one loss in his pro MMA career up to this point.
