Las Vegas, NV – Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt had to endure a long road back to the octagon, but the return was worth it as he took home a decision victory over Trevin Jones at UFC 285 on Saturday night.
“Honestly I think every fight is our Super Bowl. It’s everyone’s Super Bowl. We don’t get 16-week seasons. We get a fight and hopefully you win and don’t get injured and go back fighting in a few months,” Garbrandt told reporters including Cageside Press at his post-fight scrum.
“This sport is evolving so much. It’s phenomenal.”
Garbrandt (13-5) has been in the UFC since 2015 and has held a UFC bantamweight title before by defeating MMA legend Dominick Cruz at UFC 207.
Following that win is where Gabrandt ran into trouble going 1-4 in his next five fights before UFC 285. The build up and the win against Jones however brought positive spirits out of the former champion.
“The passion is back. I had a lot of fun in there. Had a lot of things going on in the last 16 months,” he said.
MY WORD 🤯 #UFC285 pic.twitter.com/INbb6vo1S2
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) March 5, 2023
Garbrandt revealed that he faced plenty of adversity just to get to UFC 285 having suffered a neck injury during camp, and then suffering yet another injury in warmups the morning of the fight.
“I ended up injuring my neck. Had to have a nerve block put in my neck last week. My last takedown in my warm up this morning I ended up slamming my neck getting a huge dinger losing all full range of motion in my left arm,” he said.
Garbrandt took it in stride knowing opportunities to fight can be rare at times so he went ahead with the fight.
“I was like you know what there’s never going to be an ideal situation. Just like in life there’s never going to be an ideal situation. I was just excited. I believed in myself. Did some meditation,” said Garbrandt.
The bantamweight said he’s been working with the UFC PI on mental strength and mental health. The change did wonders for Garbrandt’s mental fortitude.
“We’re judged off of wins and losses through our career. So through these losses I tried to you know do something different that I’ve never done. In a physical aspect. I’ve got to train harder, I’ve got to do this, I’ve got to incorporate this,” he said.
“But I’ve never really worked on the mental side. It’s kind of not talked about.”
Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Cody Grabrandt above.
