Cody Garbrandt appears to be willing to move down in weight despite being a champion.
Garbrandt is the reigning Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bantamweight title holder. He is set to defend his gold against T.J. Dillashaw inside Madison Square Garden in New York City. The bout will take place on UFC 217‘s main card.
During a recent appearance on ESPN’s Five Rounds podcast, Garbrandt’s coach Justin Bucholz said “No Love” is willing to fight Demetrious Johnson after his bout with Dillashaw (via MMAFighting.com):
“For sure, [Cody] can do it right now. He’s real big and strong right now and he’s getting bigger so he’s gotta do it right now if he does go down. For sure, [Demetrious Johnson] is a fight that we would love to have but we’ll just see about getting his body down to 125 [pounds].”
As far as cutting weight goes, Bucholz doesn’t believe Garbrandt will run into issues.
“I’m confident that can happen. That’s nothing. I’ve seen a lot harder things than that. Cody can make that weight and keep his power and put the weight back on and go back to ‘35 at this point in his career, while he’s young. We know the dangers of switching weight classes and whatnot with Roy Jones Jr. and you can see the stuff with B.J. Penn. We know what we’re doing here. Everything’s a science now. You’ve got to be on top of your game so you can get the correct people and set the right systems in place. We can do it old school so that’s why I’m confident with all the new school stuff it’d be even easier.”
