UFC bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw is preparing for a super fight with flyweight and pound-for-pound king Demetrious Johnson. While Dillashaw refuses to take his eyes off the prize, his ambition is being questioned by arch-rival and former 135-pound champ Cody Garbrandt.
I'd make 125 in a month! This fool can't make 125, he knows what it is. I'll be here cleaning the division out again, waiting for him???? https://t.co/XzybIfRWNv
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) January 4, 2018
To say Garbrandt has a vested interest in seeing Dillashaw fail in his quest to secure a bout against Johnson is an understatement. “No Love” has his own goal of securing a rematch with his former teammate-turned-rival:
“I can make it faster, but it’s all about how I’m gonna perform,” Dillashaw told BJ Penn Radio. “I want to perform at my best, man. The new coach I’ve been working with, Sam Calavitta, down out of Southern California, my strength and conditioning coach, my nutritionist, he’s the one that kind of gave me the numbers. He’s the one that told me, ‘Look, here’s where your body’s at now.’ I mean, this guy’s a mad scientist. He’s so good with how the body works and things that I need to do to be at my tip-top shape.”
“My last fight with Cody, I’ve never felt better,” Dillashaw continued. “I put on more muscle than I’ve ever put on. I was in better shape than I’ve ever been in. It was amazing, so [Calavitta’s] the one that’s telling me, ‘Look, [if you] want to do this legit, all you need is… we need a 16-week knowledge that you’re actually gonna fight [at 125 pounds], ’cause if not, we gotta keep the weight on. We gotta keep the weight on for [135 pounds].’ But if it’s me getting my body down, I’m gonna have to change the way I train.
I’ve already changed the way I’ve eaten and I’m continuing to do so, so my weight is lighter in preparation for this challenge. It’s one of those things that, yeah, I could make the weight shorter. Sure, I could probably make the weight in a month. I could’ve made the weight at weigh-ins in New York, but I’m looking to make the weight and be the best TJ Dillashaw I’ve ever been.”
Dillashaw also took a shot at Garbrandt for his comments over his perceived inability to move down in weight:
“He’s reaching,” Dillashaw said. “It’s what he does, it’s what he’s done my entire fight camp. He’s reaching trying to make himself relevant. He was saying that he could make the weight within a month and that’s exactly what I’m saying. He’s an idiot. Yeah, you could make the weight in a month, but you’re not gonna feel very good. Me, especially. I walk around lean, I’m on a good diet, I’m on a great lifestyle year-round. I can definitely make the weight.
“When I was told I was going to be fighting Demetrious the summer of last year, I was told I was gonna be fighting him in August, I was waking up at 154 at the time and within three weeks of me thinking I was fighting Demetrious, I was waking up at 140 and that was a little bit fast-tracked – I’d like to do it even smarter than that – but I was already waking up at 140 pounds.
“[140 is] only 15 pounds overweight,” he concluded. “I can lose that whenever I needed to. I’m looking to do it smart, intelligent, the way that it should be done like a professional athlete, not some meathead.”
