Cody Garbrandt Claims The UFC Wants Him To Win The Bantamweight Title

Former UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt has a chance to reclaim the gold this Saturday Night at UFC 227, when he faces current UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw.

The former champion is claiming that the UFC would rather have him as champion instead of Dillashaw.

“That’s the thing, that was my whole idea,” Garbrandt said at the UFC 227 open workouts. “I ended up hitting up Sean Shelby and Dana White, saying I’m gonna knock T.J. out and then go down and fight Mighty Mouse. That was my original thought. T.J. stole that from me, stole everything from me. If the UFC wanted that fight to prosper, they would have made that fight happen. They don’t want that to happen. They already moved on. They want me to be the champ, that’s why the gave me the rematch. They called me and offered me the fight in March, T.J. turned it down and made all these excuses and I had to wait all the way until August to fight him. I was ready to go way before that. I told my manager, ‘I’m ready to fight. I don’t want to have my return postponed.’”

Garbrandt is now throwing his name into the hat for a super fight with UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson, who is also in action at UFC 227.

If Garbrandt does reclaim the gold on Saturday Night, next up in his mind would be Johnson, instead of a top contender in the bantamweight division.

“New blood, it’s fine,” Garbrandt said. “I’m glad these guys are going out there and putting on performances but who are they really fighting? I’d rather fight a guy that’s stapled himself as pound-for-pound, Demetrious Johnson. I think that’s the next fight to be made after I demolish T.J. on Saturday.”

UFC 227 takes place on Saturday, August 4 from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California with TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, with a post-show podcast to follow.