Cody Garbrandt has a new dance partner for his return.
The former UFC bantamweight champion has been booked to fight Trevin Jones, who comes in as a replacement for Julio Arce, at UFC 285 on March 4 in Las Vegas. The pay-per-view event features the return of Jon Jones in a vacant heavyweight title fight against Ciryl Gane.
MMA Junkie confirmed the new matchup with sources following an initial report from ESPN on Friday night.
Garbrandt (12-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) is looking to return to his original weight class of 135 pounds after an unsuccessful drop to 125 pounds. The 31-year-old was knocked out by Kai Kara-France in his flyweight debut back at UFC 269 in December 2021.
“No Love” was then booked against Rani Yahya twice, but their matchups were scrapped when Yahya withdrew on both occasions. Garbrandt is 1-5 in his past six fights dating back to November 2017.
Jones (13-9 MMA, 1-3 UFC) is also looking to break away from a career slump. The 32-year-old is on a three-fight losing streak. He was last seen in October, when he was outpointed in a unanimous decision by Raoni Barcelos.
With the addition, the UFC 285 lineup includes:
- Jon Jones vs. Ciryl Gane – for vacant heavyweight title
- Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso – for women’s flyweight title
- Geoff Neal vs. Shavkat Rakhmonov
- Bo Nickal vs. Jamie Pickett
- Derek Brunson vs. Dricus Du Plessis
- Cody Garbrandt vs. Trevin Jones
- Viviane Araujo vs. Amanda Ribas
- Marc-Andre Barriault vs. Julian Marquez
- Jessica Penne vs. Tabatha Ricci
- Farid Basharat vs. Da’Mon Blackshear
- Kamuela Kirk vs. Esteban Ribovics
- Dan Hooker vs. Jalin Turner
- Ian Garry vs. Song Kenan
- Mario Bautista vs. Guido Cannetti
- Mana Martinez vs. Cameron Saaiman
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 285.
