Cody Garbrandt Open To 125, 145, Wants Demetrious Johnson After Dillashaw

Cody Garbrandt Open To 125, 145, Wants Demetrious Johnson After Dillashaw

UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt believes he can win the 125- and 145-pound belts, wants Demetrious Johnson next.

Mar 29, 2017 by Hunter Homistek
Cody Garbrandt Open To 125, 145, Wants Demetrious Johnson After Dillashaw
Cody Garbrandt recently set the MMA world on fire at UFC 207, defeating then-champion Dominick Cruz via lopsided decision.

Now, the young bantamweight superstar wants more. 

Speaking with Aubrey Marcus, Garbrandt discussed his potential to move to different weight classes, claiming he could go to flyweight (125 pounds) or featherweight (145 pounds) to challenge for those titles as well. Specifically, Garbrandt sees flyweight as the most intriguing option for his immediate future. He believes he can give the 125-pound champion and pound-for-pound king Demetrious Johnson a tough night on the job. 

"I can beat that dude [Johnson] for sure," Garbrandt said. "I can go to [1]25 for sure. Obviously, it's [UFC bantamweight title contender] TJ [Dillashaw] first and foremost. I'm solely focused on him, but you gotta think of other [options]. Conor [McGregor] is not fighting. [UFC featherweight champion Jose] Aldo and [interim UFC featherweight champion Max] Holloway are fighting [at UFC 212], so that ties up [featherweight].

"Now, Demetrious, he's the pound-for-pound best. [He's an] incredible fighter, great human. I like him a lot, him and his family. But for me, it's a legacy that I set out to build. Friendships are friendships, but it's business at the end of the day, and I think that I can go on as a huge fight, especially for that division. It's kind of lackluster a lot [of the time]."

The fight could come at a good time for the flyweight division, as Johnson is close to wiping out his weight class for good. With nine consecutive title defenses under his belt, Johnson is already one of the winningest champions in UFC history. With a title fight against Wilson Reis looming April 15 at UFC on Fox 24 in Kansas City, Johnson can tie former middleweight champion Anderson Silva's all-time record for consecutive title defenses (10) inside the Octagon. 

Garbrandt says he wants to spoil Johnson's potential record-breaking evening. 

"I feel like I'm the fastest in the UFC," Garbrandt said. "I'd rather go down before I go up. Demetrious has a fight with Wilson Reis in the not-too-distant future. That's coming up, so he'll tie Anderson Silva's record, then his next fight will be the all-time record. So he has all that going. Make him earn it.

"I think that's something that I need to do," Garbrandt continued. "I'm young, 25, so rather than cut when I'm older, try to go down, go now. The time is now for me...I really think that should be, after the TJ fight of course, if Dominick, I think he's not coming—I'll wait and see if Dominick wants to come back—if not, I'm willing to go after Demetrious. That's the fight that's next in my mind after TJ." 

Garbrandt didn't stop there, saying the 145-pound division and current champion Aldo are not safe, either. 

"That's something, Jose Aldo, I would like to fight as well," Garbrandt said. "He's the champion right now. He has wins over my teammates too, so that's something. Our camp knows Aldo. If my time is up to go up to [1]45 and Aldo's still the champion, I'd love to go against another legend." 


​Listen to the full interview with Garbrandt here: