It seemed all was going well for Cody Garbrandt in the first round of his match against T.J. Dillashaw. Before the end of that round, Garbrandt rocked him with a stiff right hand and seemed to be finishing him with strikes on the ground. However, Dillashaw capitalized on what Garbrandt calls a “technical error” on his part and ended up losing the bantamweight championship.
While Garbrandt acknowledges that Dillashaw was the better man at UFC 217, he still believes that’s he’s the superior fighter, and is already looking forward to a second meeting against his former Alpha Male teammate that he expects to go in a very diffrent direction.
“I am the better fighter out there and he was able to capitalize on a low left hand and a right hook,” Garbrandt said. “Hats off to T.J. He battled back from losing his title and he was a hungry man, but I’m still the better fighter in there and I’ll show that in the rematch. He caught me tonight,” Garbandt said. “He caught me with a punch. I truly am the better fighter. It was me vs. me in there, I’m battling with myself. To throw more punches, to counter, to see all these openings, and I just didn’t pull the trigger. It’s always me vs. me. The only person that beat me is me and I didn’t throw my hands, I didn’t do what I was supposed to do and know how to do in there.”
What makes Dillashaw's victory even more of an upset is the fact this is Garbrandt's first loss in the UFC. Both Dillashaw and Garbrandt were former teammates, but Dillashaw left Alpha Male under controversial circumstances. Since then, both men have been fierce rivals even almost coming to blows on the Ultimate Fighter.
Dillashaw doesn't seem to want or care for a rematch against his former teammate as he's stated in his post match interview. Whether we'll get a rematch or not doesn't seem to be the focus at the moment as Flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson seems to be the match both Dana White and Dillashaw wants.