Just three months into his reign as UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt may have designs on adding more belts to his collection.
Speaking to Aubrey Marcus on his podcast, Garbrandt made his case for not only going after Demetrious Johnson’s 125-pound championship, but possibly pursuing the 145-pound belt currently held by Jose Aldo as well.
“(I can) beat that dude for sure,” Garbrandt said when Johnson was mentioned. “I can go to 125 pounds.
“He’s a great fighter. He’s an incredible human. I like him a lot and his family, but me, it’s a legacy that I set out to build. Friendships are friendships, but it’s business at the end of the day, and I think that could go on as a huge fight. Especially in that division, it’s kind of lackluster a lot.”
Garbrandt made the case that it would be more plausible for him to move down in weight at this stage of his career rather than wait to do it when he’s older.
“I’m young – I’m 25 – so rather than cut at an older (age) and try to go down, go down now,” said Garbrandt. “The time is now for me for that fight to be on the horizon.”
While he might have his sights set on 125 pounds, Garbrandt does acknowledge there are commitments he and Johnson have before a possible fight.
“After the TJ (Dillashaw) fight, of course, and Dominic (Cruz)… I’ll wait and see if Dominic wants to come back… if not, I’m going to go after Demetrious,” Garbrandt said. “That’s the fight I want in the future.
“Demetrious has a fight with Wilson Reyes in the not too distant future, so that’s coming up, and he’ll tie Anderson Silva’s record, and then his next fight will be the all-time record. So he’s got all that going on; it’s a huge record.”
As if holding two titles wouldn’t be enough for Garbrandt, he’d like to set himself apart from others who have the same accomplishment, such as Randy Couture, BJ Penn and Conor McGregor, by becoming a three-division titlist.
“Jose Aldo, I’d like to fight him as well,” said Garbrandt. “He’s a champion (at featherweight) right now. He has wins over my teammates too. So that’s something… our camp knows Aldo.
“If my time to go up to 145 pounds works out and Aldo is still the champion, I would love to go against another legend.”
If anything, Garbrandt is ambitious, and with age and skill on his side, it might not be out of the realm of possibility for him to make his own UFC history in the coming years.
