Cody Garbrandt appeared to be the next big thing after his bantamweight title win in 2016.
At just 25 years old, ‘No Love’ became a superstar when he battered Dominick Cruz at UFC 207.
The greatest 135lb fighter of all time, who has some competition from Merab Dvalishvili in 2025, suffered several knockdowns as Cody Garbrandt ended nearly a decade of dominance with a stunning unanimous decision victory.
One of the best title-winning performances in UFC history appeared to have kickstarted a new era before the young American’s career collapsed and never recovered.
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Cody Garbrandt failed to capitalize on historic win
Cody Garbrandt headed into his first title defense with an 11-0 record and full of confidence.
However, his gung-ho approach got him knocked out by TJ Dillashaw inside two rounds at UFC 217.
Garbrandt failed to make the necessary adjustment and got stopped even quicker when they rematched in August 2018.
A devastating one-shot KO win over long-time contender Raphael Assuncao appeared to get things back on track – but it became clear this was more than a blip when Rob Font dominated Garbrandt next time out.
An ill-fated move down to flyweight resulted in an embarrassingly quick KO loss to Kai Kara-France.
In 2023, Garbrandt returned to 135lbs and put together back-to-back wins for the first time in seven years, but they came against a lower level of opponents than he was used to competing against.
Former two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo proved Garbrandt was no longer capable of beating the very best by locking up a second-round submission on him at UFC 300 in April 2024.
What’s next for Cody Garbrandt?
Cody Garbrandt will return to the Octagon following a 13-month layoff on Saturday night.
He’ll face Raoni Barcelos on the main card of UFC Atlanta, which will be headlined by a high-stakes welterweight matchup between Kamaru Usman and Joaquin Buckley.
Barcelos destroyed Payton Talbott’s perfect record as he dominated the highly-touted prospect at UFC 311 in January.
The Brazilian will be looking to make it three wins in a row and potentially retire Garbrandt this weekend.
At 33 years old, time is running out for Garbrandt to get his once-promising MMA career back on track.