According to former Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight king Cody Garbrandt, his UFC 296 appearance this weekend will mark the first time he enters a fight without any nagging injuries or recurring personal issues since his title bout with Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 back in December 2016.
Garbrandt (13-5) is set to take on Brian Kelleher (24-14) on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s UFC 296 card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Following his title win back in 2016, Garbrandt had to deal with considerable adversity, both inside and outside the Octagon: back-to-back losses, divorce and even a team change.
Nevertheless, coming off a unanimous decision victory against Trevin Jones at UFC 285, “No Love” is confident in his preparation for his upcoming fight.
“This is the best I’ve felt in all of my camps,” Garbrandt told ESPN's Marc Raimondi. “I haven’t been able to train this consistently and this much skill work since I was getting ready for Dominick Cruz. I feel like my skill level is off this planet.”
Kelleher is coming off a year layoff and back-to-back losses against Umar Nurmagomedov and Maurio Bautista in 2022. Regardless, Garbrandt is well aware of the threats the New Yorker could present during the fight and is confident that he will emerge victorious in the end.
“That guy’s got a ton of fights; over 30 professional fights. He’s battle-tested. He’s been in there with Renan Barao. He beat Renan Barao. He beat some nice guys, some bigger-name guys. He’s battled back from injuries and setbacks. He’s battle-tested. Everyone in the UFC is not an easy fight... He’s going to try and build a name off of me and it’s my job not to let him,” Garbrandt said.
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