CLEVELAND -- Cody Garbrandt never lacks for focus when he steps into The Octagon, and he has his sights set on just one goal heading into Friday night.
Garbrandt has his shot at the Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight title, and his goal is knocking out current champ Dominick Cruz at UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.
“I said it with the Thomas Almeida fight. I said, ‘I’ll knock him out in the first round,’” Garbrandt said. “I said it with the Takeya fight, that the first big shot I’d land, that he’d crumble. I believe in myself. I work hard, dedicate myself to this.
“I believe in my dreams that I have throughout the whole camp. I’ve been having this dream of knocking Dominick out since I was a teenager. I’ve probably faced him a million times in my head, and I’ll tell you what, I’m a million and 0 against him.”
Garbrandt has been prophetic in recent fights.
Garbrandt made short work of Takeya Mizugaki in the first round of their bantamweight contest in the premier bout on the preliminary card of UFC 202 at T-Mobile Arena back in August.
The No. 8 ranked bantamweight in the UFC at the time of the fight, Garbrandt floored Mizugaki with a left-right combination. With Mizugaki on his knees, Garbrandt landed a follow-up right-handed punch.
As Mizugaki fell to his back, and then, rolled over to his side, Garbrandt landed right-handed hammer fists and left-handed punches to the face before the fight was stopped just 48 seconds into the first round of the scheduled 15-minute bout.
“I’ve had plenty of experience in stand-up to be able to learn how cut off the cage, fight southpaws, fight lanky dudes, all of that,” Garbrandt said. “I don’t think that these fighters that he’s fighting, on the stand-up part, know how to cut off the cage when he switches or he’s doing all that footwork, what they need to do.
“They’re head-hunting. I know that I have the power, but I also have the speed. I don’t think he’s fought anyone that has had both. He’s fought fighters that have speed, but they don’t have power. I possess both.”
With his win over Mizugaki, Garbrandt improved to 10-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and is now tied for the most current consecutive wins in the UFC bantamweight division. Garbrandt has won all five of his fights since debuting in the UFC on January 3, 2015.
Garbrandt has won four of those five UFC fights by knockout, including three straight in the first round.
“I think it’d be funny to go out there and beat Dom in his fighting style, go out there, just out-point him, out-class him and ride out a decision, but we all know that’s not going to happen,” Garbrandt said. “I’m going to go out there and really impose my will on him. He’s built a legacy as being one of the greatest bantamweight fighters ever to fight, and I’m prepared to take everything from him.”
