According to T.J. Dillashaw, the UFC heavily invested in Cody Garbrandt.
Dillashaw ended up fighting former training partner Garbrandt twice after he fell out with Team Alpha Male. The pair coached Season 25 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and tensions reached a boiling point during the filming of the show.
Garbrandt was an undefeated bantamweight champion during that time after he put on a masterclass against Dominick Cruz to dethrone him. Dillashaw says the UFC put a lot of stock into “No Love” leading up to their title fight.
“He had a lot of pressure on him, as well,” Dillashaw said of Garbrandt on “The Casuals MMA” podcast. “He had an amazing fight against Cruz. I’ve never seen Cody Garbrandt be that good. His style is perfect for Cruz. He’s by far the fastest human being I’ve ever trained with when it comes to reaction times and how quick he is. He’s got great wrestling, and he’s got power in his hands, so it was a perfect matchup for him. Coming off that, the UFC was like, ‘Hey, this is our next big horse. Let’s put some money into him.’
“So they marketed the sh*t out of him, put him in a bunch of commercials, got some celebrities behind him. From what I was told, they put like $6 million into marketing him before our fight, gave us ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ So he went to massive stardom, way bigger than me – fast. They wanted him to be the next Conor McGregor, like run your mouth. I wouldn’t say he’s the sharpest tool in the shed to be able to be able to do something like that. He says sh*t, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
Dillashaw ended up getting the best of Garbrandt by knockout in two-straight title fights. Since beating Cruz, Garbrandt has struggled to remain at the top of the bantamweight ladder, going 3-6 in his next nine fights.
