There has been a lot of buzz around the bantamweight division ever since Sean O’Malley captured the belt from Aljamain Sterling at UFC 292. Many fighters have called out O’Malley since he won the title. As they believe they have what it takes to dethrone him. Cody Garbrandt has talked about what competitors need to do to exploit the holes in O’Malley’s game to be victorious over the Suga Show.
The Career of Cody Garbrandt
Garbrandt has had an excellent career in the UFC. He is a former bantamweight champion and has beaten the likes of Dominick Cruz and Thomas Almeida. Garbrandt has a professional record of 13-5 with ten knockouts. A big part of his success is his boxing ability and footwork, making it hard for his opponents to figure him out. He trains out of Team Alpha Male and has been his entire career. Garbrandt’s rivalry with Cruz showed he can talk a lot of trash but can back it up. The American fighter is on a losing streak as of late and even went down a weight class to face Kai Kara-France. He will need a few more wins before being considered for a title shot.
Does O’Malley Have Holes
O’Malley has proved all his doubters wrong by winning the title. Furthermore ‘Suga’ has beaten some top fighters in arguably the toughest division in the UFC. Like Garbrandt, O’Malley excels at boxing, as his striking is the main reason for his success. The evidence for this is his 12 career knockouts and nine first-round finishes. The apparent hole in his game is that no one has tested him on the ground. In an interview with Michael Bisping, Garbrandt praises the new champion but says there are holes in O’Malley’s.
“I think it’s great he’s a champion in our division; I think he has a lot of holes and weaknesses that are going to be exposed a lot.”
Can Garbrandt Get Back In The Title Picture
As previously stated, Garbrandt must go on a run to be in title contention. He was scheduled to fight at UFC 292 against Mario Bautista but had to pull out. Garbrandt isn’t in the bantamweight rankings. He would likely have to fight somebody like Ricky Simon or Chris Gutierrez to get a number beside his name again. There’s always a potential for another clash with Cruz as they are both big names, and there is a lot of history between them. It is easy to see Garbrandt being fast-tracked to a title shot. As if he could produce big performances against ranked opponents. Due to what he has done in the past.
Always interesting to see what a former champion has to say about another. Also with Garbrandt still fighting, it will be intriguing to see if he can get back to that level.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
