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UFC legend Urijah Faber believes former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will bounce back after suffering a KO slump.
“No Love” seemed poised for greatness after taking the 135-pound belt away from longtime bantamweight king Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 in December 2016. However, Garbrandt lost the title in his next bout to TJ Dillashaw, as well as the immediate rematch, both by KO/TKO.
He dropped his next bout to Pedro Munhoz via TKO and although he earned a KO-of-the-year candidate against Raphael Assuncao after that, he was decisioned by Rob Font and knocked out by Kai Kara-France in his flyweight debut in December 2021.
Garbrandt was 11-0 when he beat Cruz and now his professional MMA record sits at 12-5.
But, Faber thinks No Love will turn things around, saying that Garbrand wasn’t as focused as he could have been.
“Without getting into the personal life of Cody, people don’t know what happens in people’s lives,” Faber said to MMA Junkie in a recent interview. “And some of those fights I feel like were his fights to win, sometimes maybe (he was) not as focused. I think it’s really just understanding that it needs to be an all-in attitude, and the last camp he actually had an amazing camp. He was partially at our camp and partially out in New Jersey a little bit and was super focused and on point and took everything really, really serious, and that’s all we need from him.
“He was fighting another world-class fighter, and he needs to go out and have his best performance, have some good luck on his side, and it only takes one fight for Cody to get back on the right track and build off of that momentum. But he’s had his own battles inside, outside the octagon, and that’s more his story to tell. But very young guy, the world is his oyster if he gets on the right track and makes it happen.”
Cub Swanson Wants to Fight Faber Next
Although he’s 42 years old, Faber hasn’t committed to retiring. And should the former WEC featherweight champion decide to fight again, his fellow veteran combatant Cub Swanson is game. Swanson just turned in an impressive performance against Darren Elkins, finishing him with a spinning wheel kick and follow-up punches in December 2021.
“After fighting a stretch of up-and-comers, I was excited to fight Elkins because it was somebody that’s been around for a while, someone there’s tons of tape on, somebody close to my age,” Swanson said via MMA Junkie. “There were a lot of things where I was like, ‘Ah, we’re two veterans, we’re going to go and throw down.’ I think fighting Urijah is the same thing on another level. People love him and people have loved me for years, so I think it always makes for a great fight. We should have fought many, many times and just never did, so why not now?
“We should do it for an honorary WEC belt. They did the ‘BMF’ belt, so why not? Throwback.”
Faber Hasn’t Fought for a Few Years
Faber hasn’t competed since 2019. He made his comeback that July and starched Ricky Simon in the first round. Unfortunately for “The California Kid,” he ran into future 135-pound champion Petr Yan and was knocked out with a head kick later in the year.
He has a professional MMA record of 35-11.
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