Cody Garbrandt ditches Dominick Cruz, craves “money fight” with UFC 135-pound champion Sean O’Malley instead

It doesn't appear as though Cody Garbrandt is too keen on a rematch against Dominick Cruz, as he is committed to earning a title shot against Sean O'Malley.

A rematch between the former bantamweight champions appeared to have been a possibility, especially with the promotion looking to stack the card for their upcoming milestone UFC 300 event. While speaking to ESPN's Marc Raimondi, the 32-year-old mentioned that he isn't interested in a rematch because of what transpired in their first encounter at UFC 207:

"Honestly, that [Dominick Cruz rematch] doesn't interest me. What else am I supposed to do with the guy? Go in and knock him out this time? That's the only thing that would kind of put a statement or top that. It's so hard to top that performance [at UFC 207]." [23:38 - 23:53]

'No Love' then explained his beef with O'Malley and noted that he believes that it would be a very lucrative bout rather than a rematch against Cruz. He mentioned that they have a history with each other and expressed interest in fighting him, saying:

"I think a crash course with Sean [O'Malley] is definitely in the near future. A money fight, that's what this is all about. What is going to bring the most eyes to these fights. Sean and I have history, I would love to just go smack him around." [25:16 - 25:31]

Garbrandt most recently earned a knockout win over Brian Kelleher at UFC 296, which extended his winning streak to two consecutive wins, and he will look to carry that momentum into 2024.

Check out Cody Garbrandt's full conversation:

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Cody Garbrandt says he wants to fight Deiveson Figueiredo

Cody Garbrandt is looking to return to title contention at 135 pounds and is eyeing a bout against Deiveson Figueiredo.

Figueiredo recently moved up to bantamweight at UFC on ESPN 52, where he earned a unanimous decision over Rob Font. During the aforementioned interview, 'No Love' expressed interest in fighting the former flyweight champion in his next bout and mentioned it's an appealing bout for the fans, saying:

"It's a great fight [against Deiveson Figueiredo]. Stylistically, I love that fight, it's a fan favorite. For me, I enjoy the matchup, the technical breakdown. It's two former world champions now in the same division was previously supposed to be made in 2020." [22:14 - 22:30]