All signs pointing to Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt title fight at UFC 207

The UFC’s year-end card traditionally falls into “blockbuster” status, and a second title fight atop the bill would do a lot to help that cause.

UFC 207 may now have one. Signs are pointing toward bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz (22-1 MMA, 5-0 UFC) putting his title on the line against unbeaten rising star Cody Garbrandt (10-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC) at the event.

Torque Sports & Performance, co-founded by Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber, sponsors Garbrandt – who also trains at Alpha Male. The company posted on its Instagram feed Thursday night that Garbrandt would challenge Cruz for the belt at UFC 207, but later deleted the post.

But Cruz posted on his Instagram, as well. And while he didn’t name Garbrandt as his next opponent, his post featured a pair of photos of him punching Faber and former Alpha Male fighter (and champion) T.J. Dillashaw, along with the caption: “NEXT,” implying Garbrandt will be the next fighter from the esteemed camp he takes out.

Additionally, MMA Fighting reported the fight is being targeted for UFC 207, but the UFC has not yet made an official announcement.

UFC 207 takes place Dec. 30 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. In the main event, former champ Ronda Rousey tries to recapture the women’s bantamweight title when she returns from a layoff in excess of a year to meet new champ Amanda Nunes.

Cody Garbrandt

Garbrandt has been pining for a title shot ever since he knocked out Thomas Almeida in the first round of the UFC Fight Night 88 main event in May, taking a fight-night bonus in the process. He didn’t get it after that, but further stated his case in August when he shut down former WEC bantamweight title challenger Takeya Mizugaki in just 48 seconds with a big TKO.

After that, at a fan Q&A at UFC 203 in his native Ohio, Garbrandt said he had a confrontation with Cruz backstage at UFC 202 – and the pair needed to be separated by light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. (Check out the video from his Q&A above.) After he beat Almeida, Garbrandt, then 24, told the media at UFC 199 in California that beating Cruz was something he had been thinking about since he was 16. (See that video below.)

Cruz has not lost a fight in nine and a half years. It’s been 13 straight since then, though that run has been punctuated with plenty of layoffs due to injury. He became the UFC’s first bantamweight champion after the merger with the WEC and beat Faber and Demetrious Johnson, who went on to become the UFC’s long-reigning flyweight champ.

But after the win over Johnson in October 2011, he was out for nearly three years with knee injuries. He was stripped of his bantamweight title, which eventually was claimed by Renan Barao, then Dillashaw. After a bonus-winning 61-second knockout of Mizugaki when he finally returned in September 2014, Cruz was sidelined for another 16 months.

But he returned in January to challenge Dillashaw and beat him by split decision in a “Fight of the Night” winner. And at UFC 199 in June, he defended the belt in a trilogy fight with Faber, the last man to beat him, moving to 2-1 against “The California Kid.”

The current UFC 207 card includes:

• Champ Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey – for women’s bantamweight title
• Champ Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt – for bantamweight title*
• Alex Garcia vs. Mike Pyle
• Sabah Homasi vs. Brandon Thatch
• Tim Means vs. Alex Oliveira
• Johny Hendricks vs. Neil Magny
• Matt Brown vs. Tarec Saffiedine
• Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum

* Not officially announced.

For more on UFC 207, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.

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