Former undisputed bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt has not forgotten his long-time grudge with fellow former gold holder, Sean O’Malley dating back years ago. And admits the Montana striker is still on his radar, especially with a win at UFC Atlanta.
Garbrandt, who returns this weekend for the first time in over a year, takes on Brazilian stalwart Raoni Barcelos over the course of three rounds in a bid to return to winning-ways.
Most recently opening the preliminary card of UFC 300 in the opening quarter of last year, the Ohio knockout artist came unstuck in an eventual third round rear-naked choke submission loss to ex-flyweight champion, Deiveson Figueriedo.
And taking on Barcelos this weekend, Garbrandt briefly touched on O’Malley’s title fight loss against the incumbent, Merab Dvalishvili over the course of last weekend at UFC 316.
“He (Sean O’Malley) should I kept smoking, because he looked like sh*t [against Dvalishvili],” Cody Garbrandt told assmebled media ahead of UFC Atlanta. “But yeah, whatever he had to do, you know sometimes, you know you lose and you try to reinvent yourself and find yourself. And at the end of the day, man like you know who you are, you know?”
Cody Garbrandt open to Sean O’Malley fight after UFC Atlanta
Almost coming to blows with the Contender Series alum during a press conference ahead of the former’s title coronation, Garbrandt has not forgotten that moment. And thus, claims a grudge clash in the future is a massive pay-per-view draw for the Octagon leader.
“That’s a fight that definitely — I think that’s a huge pay-per-view sale fight, Sean and I,” Cody Garbrandt said. “I’m focused on the fight this Saturday and we’ll let everything else fall in line.”
