Despite their history, T.J. Dillashaw was hoping Cody Garbrandt would get his hand raised at UFC 300.
Garbrandt (14-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) was submitted by Deiveson Figueiredo (23-3-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) in Round 2 of their bantamweight bout this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
Dillashaw thought Garbrandt was capable of winning, and went as far as praising his former rival.
“I thought Garbrandt was going to get the win,” Dillashaw said on the “JAXXON PODCAST.” “I think he’s the all-around better athlete. They both have power – we know that going into the fight. Figueiredo’s got power at ’25s, but it’s translated and we’ve seen it at ’35s, as well. Garbrandt’s got power – he’s just so fast. He’s like the fastest person I’ve ever trained with, fought against – insanely fast. His fast twitch is crazy.
“I thought that he’d get the win. I was hoping he’d get the win, I was actually rooting for him, even with all the bullsh*t drama going on between him and us fighting each other. I was rooting for him. I hate to see a fighter lose his confidence because when you lose your confidence, your skills go downhill. If you’re not going to believe in yourself when you get in there, then you’re not going to be able to do what you can do to the fullest.”
Dillashaw knocked out Garbrandt in back-to-back title fights at UFC 217 and UFC 227. The former bantamweight champion says Garbrandt’s chin has since deteriorated, which made him more tentative while fighting.
“He unfortunately doesn’t have a chin anymore,” Dillashaw said. “People have seen that. He can get cracked, and he’s gotten knocked out after I beat him. He got knocked out a few more times, so everyone was ridiculing him for getting knocked out and for being overly aggressive, not having good defense. Now they want to hate him for being too defensive.”
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.
