UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt knows who his next opponent will be, but doesn’t yet have a date. He does, however, have a target.
Though he is still on the mend from a back injury, Garbrandt believes he’ll be ready by November and is eyeing UFC 217 at Madison Square Garden in New York for his return. He’s expected to defend his belt against TJ Dillashaw when he returns, and he’d like that to happen on Nov. 4.
“I want MSG,” Garbrandt said in a text message to MMAFighting.
Garbrandt hasn’t gotten back to dedicated fight training yet, but indicated that his rehab was going well and that he has been working out. He had indicated in July that a November return was likely, as long as things stay on track. It sounds as if things are staying on track thus far.
“Feeling a lot better,” he wrote. “Hardly doing MMA. It’s been all rehab and strength and conditioning. I can’t wait to get back.”
If Garbrandt does face Dillashaw on the Madison Square Garden card, they will be joining one of the promotion’s biggest events of the year. Returning former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre is expected to headline UFC 217 in a challenge to middleweight titleholder Michael Bisping.
