Days before he’s to face Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202, Cody Garbrandt wants to take out the cream of the bantamweight division.
Currently 4-0 in the UFC with two straight first-round finishes, the eighth-ranked Garbrandt wants to hand the division’s best a similar fate, and he knows in what order.
“I’ve got a UFC hit list. My UFC hit list goes like this – by default it’s Takeya Mizugaki, he’s my next fight. Then it goes Dominick Cruz, TJ Dillashaw, John Lineker. That’s my UFC hit list,” Garbrandt told FOX Sports’ Damon Martin.
Garbrandt has traded verbal jabs with Cruz in the past, most recently stating he wants to leave him “eating through a straw.” The Ohio native has been pining for a shot at the bantamweight champ since he was teenager, adding Cruz’s track record does not boast a victory over a power puncher of his caliber.
“He beat TJ (Dillashaw), he beat (Urijah) Faber – and nothing against him, coming back from injury and being out for so long, good for him. Give him a round of applause for that but when’s the last time he fought a young, hungry, heavy-hitting, mean mother(expletive) that loves to fight?”
“No Love” has a personal score to settle with Dillashaw as well. Once training partners at Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt’s relationship with Dillashaw soured after the former broke away from the team.
Last on the “hit list” is fellow heavy hitter John Lineker, who Garbrandt had been scheduled to fight earlier this year before the Brazilian bowed out due to illness.
“I’ll beat Takeya, I’ll fight Dominick for the title, TJ is the first title defense, knock him out, bring on John Lineker, I’ll knock him out. He doesn’t get off the hook that easy. He was supposed to get that ass whooped in February.”
Garbrandt will get his first stab at his list when he faces Mizugaki in the featured prelim bout at UFC 202 in Las Vegas on Saturday.
