Cody Garbrandt will get his wish.
After impressive wins and extensive trash talk on both sides, the upstart "No Love" Garbrandt will face bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz in the co-main event of UFC 207, scheduled for Dec. 30 in Las Vegas.
The 25-year-old Garbrandt (10-0) might be the most promising fighter in the division and in Sacramento, California's famed Team Alpha Male gym, fronted by Urijah Faber. Garbrandt gained a new level of notoriety this spring and summer when he knocked out Thomas Almeida and Takeya Mizugaki in successive bouts. Both times, he used the heightened platform to call for a title shot with Cruz, who has a long history of acrimony with the Alpha Male camp.
Detailing a run-in with Cruz, Garbrandt in August told Shaun Al-Shatti of MMA Fighting:
Him getting physical? He's never gotten physical. When does he ever get physical? That guy is b*tch-made. I said 'just get ready for it. You can't run.' I said, 'I should slap you right now, you're lucky I got a fight.' And he just was trembling in fear. I could feel his body radiating fear from me. I felt bad for the guy. He was, he literally had fear. I could see it, I could feel it off him. I can judge someone by body language and eyes. He was scared, looking around like security will come stop this, will you come get this animal out of here, can you get this savage away from me. And that's he's going to be trying to do: run in there. Reebok should give him a pair of shoes just to run full-time in the fight.
Cruz has had plenty to say about Garbrandt as well. Before Garbrandt's fight with Mizugaki, Cruz referred to Garbrandt as "a smaller CM Punk." Ouch.
"Let the youngster enjoy his hype train fresh off his win," Cruz later told Ariel Helwani of MMA Fighting. "Let his people keep on building that false sense of confidence that they are all instilling into his psyche over this period, it's good for him. I kill hype for a living."
Just takes one with a 4 oz'er ?? @DominickCruz pic.twitter.com/b1g5MyVFPb
— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) October 22, 2016
The numbers are on Cruz's side, at least as far as his last comment is concerned. Ever since returning from a years-long layoff related to a litany of injuries, Cruz has looked nigh-well unstoppable, using preternatural movement and striking to dispatch Mizugaki, then take the title from a well-hyped T.J. Dillashaw before cruising to a rubber-match win over Faber.
It's an open question as to whether he can repeat that success against a super athletic and extremely hard-hitting opponent in Garbrandt.
