Cody Garbrandt has his hands full with upcoming opponent and bitter rival T.J. Dillashaw, but the UFC bantamweight champion still has someone else on his mind heading into UFC 217, too.
Garbrandt said Wednesday in a UFC 217 media conference call (audio via Submission Radio) that he wants to drop down to the 125-pound division to face longtime champion Demetrious Johnson after defeating Dillashaw in November. “No Love” added that there would not be any clear contenders for him to face if he remains at 135 pounds after UFC 217.
“With a knockout over T.J., I’ve wiped out the division,” Garbrandt said (transcript via Sherdog.com). “There’s a big gap between myself, then it goes [Dominick Cruz], and T.J., and it falls off from there. … I always like to have a fight ahead of myself, planned ahead. Obviously, I’m focusing on T.J., but ‘Mighty Mouse’ is next at 125 pounds.”
Both Garbrandt and Johnson have discussed a potential superfight between the two of them throughout 2017, but, ultimately, nothing has come to fruition. Johnson was adamant on fighting flyweight contenders — that’s why he refused to fight Dillashaw — before stopping Ray Borg at UFC 216 earlier month to break the UFC record for most title defenses. But now that Borg is in his rear-view mirror, the dominant champion’s stance may change.
If the Johnson fight doesn’t happen immediately, fighting the winner of Dominick Cruz vs. Jimmie Rivera (UFC 219) seems to make the most sense for Garbrandt should he come out on top vs. Dillashaw. But the 26-year-old said the flyweight title fight is much more appealing, adding that he could make 125 pounds by UFC 217 if he “wanted to.”
“Cruz is at the tail end of his career,” Garbrandt said. “Neither [he nor Rivera] are money fights for me,” Garbrandt said. “I’m going to go down and fight ‘Mighty Mouse’ at 125. That’s just a business move for me.”
Garbrandt vs. Dillashaw will mark the champion’s first 135-pound title defense after winning the belt last December against Dominick Cruz. Garbrandt was a big underdog heading into the largest fight of his career, but he mostly dominated Cruz throughout the five-round affair.
He was scheduled to fight Dillashaw, a former teammate at Team Alpha Male, at UFC 213 this past July after a coaching stint on The Ultimate Fighter 25, but an injury forced the champ off the card. He had back surgery in Germany shortly after the cancellation.
Garbrandt vs. Dillashaw is set to co-headline UFC 217 on Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In the main event, Georges St-Pierre returns against middleweight champion Michael Bisping. Also on the card, strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk defends her belt against Rose Namajunas.