Is Marlon Vera right about Cody Garbrandt’s brain “accepting” KO damage?
I would agree. The lighter weight classes and brutal cuts are terrible for older, higher mileage fighters, and to make matters worse, those classes are mainly dependent on speed and reaction time, which is one of the first things that diminish for older fighters.
Cody’s added challenge is that he’s not a big dude. He has a small frame and T-Rex arms, so it’s not even really practical for him to move to weight classes, either.
So yeah, he doesn’t have very many options at this point, aside from going back to BW. His attempt to try flyweight was a disaster, and I don’t think that that weight cut is something he can repeatedly, safely do with severely diminishing his performance. Lastly, in terms of miles and fight years, he’s up there. It hasn’t been an easy ride for him since he won the belt, and he’s now got a lot of miles and injuries on him. Not to sound like a dick, but he’s never struck me as being overly bright and doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who’s going to reinvent his approach anytime soon. Cody has a pretty simple to understand path to victory when he fights, and not much else.
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He’s on the back foot far enough that Conor will probably call him out.