"He still can’t beat me when I’m focused and mentally there" - Cody Garbrandt on his two losses to arch rival TJ Dillashaw
Cody Garbrandt has opened up on his two losses against TJ Dillashaw in the UFC. 'No Love' has claimed he wasn't in the right mental state for his fights against TJ and it was not what it should've been.
During his interview with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience, Cody Garbrandt stated that TJ Dillashaw could be on all sorts of stuff and still wouldn't beat a mentally focused Garbrandt.
"My mental state was not what it should have been to go in against a guy like TJ. And we can fast forward to where he got popped and this and that. TJ can be on that stuff and he still can’t beat me when I’m focused and mentally there and I’m in there, I’m excited."
The former UFC bantamweight champion added that with TJ on his way back to the UFC, Cody would be open to a trilogy fight against his former training partner. Garbrandt believes that a third fight with Dillashaw would be a big fight for him, as the latter caught him at a time when he was mentally not in the best state of mind.
“I’m glad that he’s coming back, he’s got to prove to himself. And it’s a big fight for me to come back to in the future. That’s going to happen. I feel like TJ caught me at a time where mentally I was not in the best state of mind to go in there and be a champion. That’s why it was taken from me. I wasn’t doing the right things, the slight edge things. He capitalized and I look back on it — there’s a little bit of insanity. You got to be insane to repeat the same thing and expect a different outcome.”
In 2017, Cody Garbrandt suffered his first professional loss to TJ Dillashaw 2017 after a second-round TKO loss to the former UFC bantamweight champion. The rematch between the pair from 2018 also went in favor of Dillashaw.
Cody Garbrandt will play a big role in the UFC's bantamweight division
After a loss to Pedro Munhoz in 2019, Cody Garbrandt made his return to the UFC with a big win over Raphael Assuncao. 'No Love' recently expressed interest in moving down to flyweight but could stick to 135 and make his way back into title contention.