Cody Garbrandt is not at all worried about whether he’ll be seeing Deiveson Figuereido in a title fight next year.
The original main event for UFC 255 was scheduled to be flyweight champion Deiveson Figuereido making his first title defense against Cody Garbrandt. Unfortunately, Garbrandt had to withdraw from the bout due to injury, leading to Alex Perez stepping in and taking his place. Figuereido made short work of Perez and will now turn his attention to the other flyweight who was victorious at the event, Brandon Moreno, who punched his ticket to a title shot after defeating Brandon Royval by TKO. Moreno will be challenging Figuereido for the title at next week’s UFC 256, but Garbrandt fully expects to be fighting Figuereido next as originally planned.
“I feel like he’s gonna run over that kid,” Garbrandt predicted to ESPN. “That’s another lamb being brought into the slaughterhouse, and that’s fine. Let him build up that hype, let him build that ‘holy (expletive), this kid is the real deal’ until you bring the real deal into the fight. There will be no backing down with me. I’m excited for the fight.”
Brandon Moreno has looked very impressive lately and is currently enjoying a three-fight winning streak, but neither he nor any of the other flyweights have what it takes to dethrone Figuereido, says Garbrandt, because they lack the proper skill set and fight IQ.
“These guys sit there in front of him, and that’s where he bombs on them,” Garbrandt said. “I move too much. I’m too quick in and out. A lot of these fighters, too, they don’t know how to fight backwards. They’re all like pressure fighters.
“My game plan will be how I fought Dominick Cruz,” Garbrandt continued. “Now, he is no Dominick Cruz. He is flat-footed. Dominick moves a lot. He’s very unorthodox, throws punches and kicks at weird-ass angles so you always have to be up, and I’ve corrected a lot of my stuff.”
Cody Garbrandt expects the fight to take place in March, at which point he believes he will prove why he is the “far superior fighter” to Figuereido.
Do you agree with Cody Garbrandt? Is Brandon Moreno a lamb being sent out to the slaughter?
