Fight Path: Cody Garbrandtm goes from small-town Ohio to Team Alpha Male

Cody Garbrandtand his older brother were allowed to wrestle – encouraged to wrestle, even – but boxing is where their mother drew the line.

She was raising the two boys on her own in a small Ohio city, so she knew they needed constructive activities. The high school had a strong wrestling program, so she got them involved in camps at a young age.

But when an uncle who was a boxing trainer wanted to help them get involved in that sport as well? The boys had to get inventive.

“She would say she didn’t want us to be punch drunk later,” Garbrandt told MMAjunkie. “But we would sneak out and go to the gym. We would blare AC/DC and go at each other.”

Those clandestine boxing sessions combined with his state champion-level wrestling abilities helped lead Garbrandt to the career that has caused him to uproot from his Ohio home and travel to California while dreaming big. Now with a 3-0 professional MMA record, Garbrandt gets his first shot at a title on Saturday when he takes on James Porter (5-2) in the main event at PinnacleFC 7 in Pittsburgh.

After a rotation through wrestling that saw him attend two high schools and two colleges to try to find the right fit, Garbrandt has become a top up-and-coming bantamweight. He has moved to Sacramento to train full time with Team Alpha Male, which he said has him feeling the best of his career.

But Garbrandt continues to hang onto the memories of his grandfather working in an Ohio factory and his grandmother working at a manufacturing company for long hours. His brother went to work at one of the local mines near their home, so Garbrandt has seen hard work up close.

“We’re a blue-collar family,” he said. “It makes you see what else you could be doing, and I would rather work hard to stay where I am and doing what I love.”

Moving through wrestling

Garbrandt was raised in Uhrichsville, Ohio, and he had the fortune of being raised in a place with a respectable wrestling tradition. But it wasn’t the easiest of early lives for the family.

Garbrandt and his brother were formally adopted by their stepfather when he was 10 years old (they’re just 10 months apart). But their mother and stepfather later split up, which meant the boys were raised by their mother.

When he was just 4 years old, his mother had signed him and his brother up for a local high school event to teach youngsters about wrestling. It was a camp that instructed on the sport and then ended with a tournament, which started his passion for the sport.

In elementary school, he traveled much further for wrestling tournaments and events. Meanwhile, his uncle, Robert Meese, was helping the boys get started in boxing.

Meese was a trainer, and he liked to get the boys into the gym, Garbrandt believes as much as anything to have his own fun.

“He would put us on a treadmill and turn it way up and watch us try to keep up,” Garbrandt said with a laugh. “I think he liked to watch us go after each other a little bit.”

Garbrandt later added football to his list of sports, and he was equally as skilled, becoming an all-state honorable mention performer throughout his career. He won a wrestling state championship as a high school freshmen in 2007 and was then runner-up as a sophomore.

His tendency to fight, though, led him to change high schools as a senior. He was recruited as a wrestler to Michigan State, but some academic qualifying issues helped him land at Newberry College in South Carolina.

But his wrestling days were quickly coming to a close.

“I guess my heart wasn’t into it anymore,” he said. “I was doing boxing, and that’s what I wanted to do.”

Putting it all together

Garbrandt had taken his first boxing match when he was about 14 years old, and over the course of about six years, he compiled 30-some fights. In some stretches, he would fight multiple times in a weekend, because it was something he enjoyed doing.

Eventually he was asked by gyms to come in and help MMA fighters with their wrestling, which exposed him to that world for the first time. Once again, his uncle was involved, because he was often working with the same fighters.

Shortly after he turned 18, Garbrandt took his first MMA fight, which was a natural fit with his boxing and wrestling backgrounds. His uncle also knew that, because fighting had affected his school life, this could be a good outlet.

Through two high schools and two colleges – he later gave wrestling one more try at a small Ohio college – he compiled eight amateur fights. He became a professional in December 2012 and started with a first-round win that also resulted in a broken hand and 11 months away from fighting.

But he was ready to return in November when he scored a knockout in his second Pinnacle appearance following the start of his training with Team Alpha Male. His third fight involved taking on undefeated Dominic Mazzotta in his hometown, and the second-round knockout solidified Garbrandt’s position as a significant bantamweight prospect.

Now he moves on to his first title shot. He has moved to California to formalize his training, and he maintains the mix of boxing, wrestling and motivation that small-town Ohio taught him.

“Just growing up the way I did, it did a lot for me,” he said. “We didn’t go without, but it was a struggle sometimes. It’s how she raised us, to roll with life’s ups and downs. That’s important for me.”

Award-winning newspaper reporter Kyle Nagel pens “Fight Path” each week. The column focuses on the circumstances that led fighters to a profession in MMA. Know a fighter with an interesting story? Email us at news [at] mmajunkie.com.