Not so long ago, top UFC bantamweight contenders T.J. Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt were teammates.
Both men trained at Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California, but Dillashaw left the squad last year to join Elevation Fight Team in Colorado. Garbrandt, who challenges Dominick Cruz for the 135-pound title later tonight at UFC 207, still trains at TAM and didn’t exactly take kindly to Dillashaw’s departure.
In an interview with FOX Sports earlier this week, ‘No Love’ said his former teammate would be an ‘easy’ fight for him and sees a potential championship bout down the line.
Dillashaw, though, who meets bantamweight slugger John Lineker on tonight’s main card, brushed Garbrandt’s comments aside and recalled the time that he ‘made him cry’ in training practice.
“He knows that’s not true because I made him cry multiple times after practice,” Dillashaw told MMA Fighting ahead of UFC 207. “So, he can say as much as he wants, but he knows it’s not true. I remember him getting ready for the (Marcus) Brimage fight (at UFC 182) and he just lost it because I just beat the sh*t out of him. So, he can pump himself up like a politician and think he’s this big, bad man, but everyone’s got their weaknesses.”
Despite his disdain for Garbrandt, Dillashaw is still on good terms with several members of his former team and doesn’t want their rivalry to cause problems behind closed doors.
“I don’t want to, man. I have a lot of friends at Alpha Male still,” Dillashaw said. “I still have a lot of guys I stay in touch with. Chad Mendes, I’m hunting with all the time. Lance Palmer, I’m always talking with. Danny Castillo. Justin Buchholtz is one of my best friends. So that’s something I wouldn’t really want, having to be a rival with those guys, because I love all those guys. So it’s a tough one.”
If both men win their respective bouts at UFC 207, the two are likely to collide in a championship epic next year. The PPV takes place tonight, December 30, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
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