Cody Garbrandt has issued a response to Deiveson Figueiredo’s comment that the former bantamweight champion is ‘mentally fragile’, as the two open up the blockbuster UFC 300 card.
Cody Garbrandt and Deiveson Figueiredo were previously booked to fight at UFC 255 when the Brazilian held the UFC flyweight title.
It would’ve marked Garbrandt’s first fight at 125lbs but unfortunately, he pulled out of the fight after tearing his bicep during his training camp. Figueiredo went on to successfully defend his title against late notice replacement, Alex Perez.
Although the fight didn’t come to fruition back in 2020, the situation recently flipped as ‘Deus Da Guerra’ decided to move up to bantamweight following his flyweight title loss to Brandon Moreno at UFC 283 last year.
Deiveson Figueiredo claimed ‘No Love’ is ‘mentally fragile’
Earlier last week, the former flyweight champion questioned the 32-year-old’s mentality and called Garbrandt ‘mentally fragile’.
“We see he’s mentally fragile, he doesn’t have a good head.” Figueiredo told Guilherme Cruz via the Trocacao Franca podcast.
“We see he hasn’t come back after a few losses right? You have to be a badass you need a strong mind to come back again. I think I’ll affect his mind by touching him.” the Brazilian added.
Garbrandt has bounced back from losing skids on several occasions. After suffering three losses in a row in the period from 2017-2019, he bounced back with a win over Raphael Assuncao, which earned him the title shot against Figueiredo.
He then went on to lose back-to-back fights after that but then rebounded again with his most recent consecutive wins. His last two fights – against Trevin Jones and Brian Kelleher – marked the first time he’s scored consecutive wins since 2016.
Garbrandt fires back at Figueiredo and questions his mentality
Despite it being the 36-year-old who initially questioned Garbrandt’s mental fragility, ‘No Love’ offered an explanation of why the Brazilian said what he said.
“I’ve been there when you’re mentally weak and you don’t believe in yourself you have to speak more and try to get into your opponent’s head, I’ve been that person.” Garbrandt explained in an interview with MMAJunkie.
Garbrandt then began to question Figueiredo’s mentality, bringing up the fact that the former flyweight champion has missed weight before – in his vacant flyweight title fight against Joseph Benavidez in 2020 – saying that the Brazilian ‘quit on himself’.
“He’s missed weight (before). Right there, that’s being a p**** that’s the biggest mentally weak block you could ever do, you have to make weight, you don’t make weight meaning you quit on yourself. You broke by yourself so he has to understand that he’s broke before, before even getting into the Octagon.” Garbrandt added.
A big fight for the bantamweight title picture
Although this fight is unlikely to secure the victor a title shot, it goes a long way in them putting themselves in the mix.
Especially for Deiveson Figueiredo, to pick up consecutive wins at bantamweight – with his debut 135lb win coming against Rob Font back in December – it will show that he is still of championship caliber. Not only that, but he and Sean O’Malley have shared words before, adding to the potential storyline.
Similarly for ‘No Love’, he and Sean O’Malley have come face to face before when they both appeared on stage at the UFC 269 press conference. A third win in a row for the 32-year-old, against a former champion, would put him back in the bantamweight mix.