While some may take shots at Cody Garbrandt’s recent career slump, Brandon Moreno took a different route.
The UFC flyweight champion has been recently keeping a close eye on Garbrandt, as the ex-UFC bantamweight titleholder dropped to Moreno’s division in hopes to renew his career and start a campaign towards flyweight gold last month at UFC 269.
Unfortunately for Garbrandt, his flyweight debut was unsuccessful. He was finished via TKO by New Zealand’s Kai Kara-France.
“It was sad,” Moreno told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “You get carried away by the hype because they start doing all the promos, and they start promoting Cody Garbrandt ,and you kind of start believing like, ‘Hey, he could be something interesting in the division.’
“But then what happened happened, and you start reflecting on a sober mind. It was a tough scene for Cody. He was knocked out at 135 pounds. His chin was touched. He cuts the weight – who knows how the brain was? Then you give him a Kai Kara-France, who hits very hard, and I know it because I already fought him. It wasn’t a good situation for him, and it’s sad.
“Of course, on the money side, a fight with Cody Garbrandt would’ve been very good, but Kara-France did what he had to do, and he looked great.”
Garbrandt conquered the 135-pound title, defeating the legendary Dominick Cruz in a dominant decision win in 2016. He was unbeaten and just 24 years of age. However, he then went on to go 1-5 and saw his title reign and contention in the UFC dwindle away.
“He beat Dominick,” Moreno said. “He lost against T.J. Dillashaw twice, then Pedro Munhoz. He then beat Raphael Assuncao, who’s not in the best part of his career, and then loses to Font (and now Kara-France).
“It’s so crazy. This shows you how cruel the sport can be. I love the sport, but I’m aware that this sport is rough. It’s f*cked. It’s ugly. But yeah, being at the highest of highs to now going through a very difficult time, I’m not going to beat a man while he’s down. I just hope that he finds a lot of clarity and that he does well in whatever he wants to do next.”
Once seeing him as a future opponent, Moreno isn’t even sure if Garbrandt should continue fighting. He wishes the former champ well in whatever he decides to do, but he can’t ignore that Garbrandt has been finished four times in his last six fights.
“Speaking of the future, it’s not only talking about 125 pounds, it’s about talking bout his entire career as a mixed martial artist,” Moreno explained. “Is it even healthy for him to keep on fighting? He’s been cracked in his last fights, and he’s fallen. That’s dangerous. Let’s hope that he gets together with his family and makes a good decision for his future because speaking about the health factor, it can be dangerous.”