UFC viewers guide — Cody Garbrandt has been to the top and has bottomed out — where does he stand now?

4 years in the past, Cody Garbrandt delivered an all-time traditional, five-round efficiency towards Dominick Cruz to seize the UFC’s bantamweight championship. Garbrandt hasn’t seemed the identical since.

Going into Saturday’s UFC Struggle Night time important occasion between Garbrandt (12-3) and Rob Font (18-4) on the Apex in Las Vegas (7 p.m. ET, prelims at 4 p.m. on ESPN+), the query of whether or not Garbrandt can return to the shape that led him to a UFC title is essentially the most urgent one. Is the perfect nonetheless to come back for Garbrandt, or did we already witness his peak 4 years in the past?

It has been a roller-coaster profession for Garbrandt, to say the least. After successful the title in 2016, Garbrandt suffered a severe again damage the next 12 months, which he now says stole a whole lot of his ardour for the game on the time. He fought emotionally in three consecutive appearances, from 2017 to 2019, and misplaced all of them by knockout.

He additionally misplaced his head coach, Justin Buchholz, in 2017, when Buchholz break up from Workforce Alpha Male in Sacramento, California. Final 12 months, Garbrandt handled a severe kidney challenge that compelled him out of a scheduled struggle in March 2023. He additionally got here down with extreme signs of COVID-19, which canceled a flyweight title struggle in November.

However behind all of that, there’s purpose to imagine Garbrandt can return to the highest. Two years in the past, he linked up with a brand new head coach, Mark Henry. Garbrandt has fought solely as soon as since including Henry to his teaching workers, and that was a knockout win over Raphael Assuncao final June.

He’s nonetheless, someway, solely 29. When you concentrate on all the things Garbrandt has been via in his profession, the very fact he’s nonetheless in his 20s feels unattainable.

And, after all, there’s the very fact we’ve seen him attain the highest earlier than. We don’t should marvel what Garbrandt is able to. We all know. That efficiency towards Cruz to win the championship — it’s arguably one of many best performances, prime to backside, in UFC historical past.

Garbrandt has that sort of expertise in him, and he says it’s nonetheless there now. He simply hasn’t been in a position to present it a lot over the previous two years due to well being points. Saturday’s struggle towards Font, who has emerged as a real title contender himself, is a big alternative for Garbrandt to inform the game his greatest remains to be to come back.

By the numbers

5: Knockouts as a UFC bantamweight by Font, tying him with Eddie Wineland for the second most in division historical past, behind solely TJ Dillashaw’s seven. Garbrandt has 4 knockouts, tying him for fourth.

1.58: Knockdowns per quarter-hour by Garbrandt, the best common in UFC males’s bantamweight historical past. His 9 knockdowns tie him with fellow ex-champions Dillashaw and Petr Yan for essentially the most of all time within the division. Font is tied for fifth with six knockdowns.

5.21: Important strikes landed per minute by Font, the eighth most amongst lively UFC 135-pounders. Garbrandt’s 64.8% important strike protection is tied for fifth greatest.

3: Consecutive victories by Font. His eight wins at bantamweight tie him for sixth amongst lively fighters within the division.

1,254: Days that Garbrandt went with out a victory after successful the UFC belt in December 2016. He broke a three-fight skid with a KO of Raphael Assuncao in July 2023.

Sources: ESPN Stats & Data and UFC Stats

5 vs. 5

Rob Font’s most up-to-date outcomes
Win: Marlon Moraes (TKO1, Dec. 19, 2023; watch on ESPN+)
Win: Ricky Simon (UD, Dec. 7, 2019; watch on ESPN+)
Win: Sergio Pettis (UD, Dec. 15, 2018)
Loss: Raphael Assuncao (UD, July 7, 2018)
Win: Thomas Almeida (TKO2, Jan. 20, 2018)

Cody Garbrandt’s most up-to-date outcomes
Win: Raphael Assuncao (KO2, June 6, 2023; watch on ESPN+)
Loss: Pedro Munhoz (TKO1, March 2, 2019; watch on ESPN+)
Loss: TJ Dillashaw (TKO1, Aug. 4, 2018)
Loss: TJ Dillashaw (TKO2, Nov. 4, 2017)
Win: Dominick Cruz (UD, Dec. 30, 2016)

Have you learnt the pizza man?

play

Cody Garbrandt breaks down his stand-up sport to Rob Font, including that he expects to be a number of steps forward of him throughout their bantamweight struggle.

And the winner is …

“Love each guys. Each guys, tremendous thrilling to observe,” mentioned Mike Brown, coach at American High Workforce. “I’m leaning in direction of Cody, if he stays composed. He’s acquired an enormous energy edge and pace edge. Everyone is sort of nonetheless excessive on his final KO of Raphael Assuncao; that was spectacular. It’s simply unusual how he’s had these moments that go away you scratching your head and questioning, ‘What was he considering?’ I cherished it, however the struggle with Pedro Munhoz was loopy — you’re simply going to dig your toes within the floor and preserve swinging till any individual goes down? It’s simply not a wise factor to do.”

Take a look at how Brown and different specialists break down the principle occasion and predict a winner.

Easy methods to watch the fights

Watch the fights on ESPN+. Should you don’t have ESPN+, get it right here. Additionally: Obtain the ESPN App | WatchESPN | TV schedule

There’s additionally FightCenter, which provides reside updates for each UFC card.

Saturday’s struggle card

ESPN+, 7 p.m. ET
Rob Font vs. Cody Garbrandt | Males’s bantamweight
Yan Xiaonan vs. Carla Esparza | Strawweight
Justin Tafa vs. Jared Vanderaa | Heavyweight
Felicia Spencer vs. Norma Dumont | Ladies’s featherweight
Jack Hermansson vs. Edmen Shahbazyan | Middleweight
Ricardo Ramos vs. Invoice Algeo | Males’s bantamweight
ESPN+, 4 p.m. ET
Ben Rothwell vs. Chris Barnett | Heavyweight
Court docket McGee vs. Claudio Silva | Welterweight
Bruno Silva vs. Victor Rodriguez | Males’s flyweight
Josh Culibao vs. Sha Yilan | Males’s featherweight
David Dvorak vs. Juancamilo Ronderos | Males’s flyweight
Rafael Alves vs. Damir Ismagulov | Light-weight

4 extra issues to know (from ESPN Stats & Data)

1. Yan Xiaonan, who faces former strawweight champion Carla Esparza within the co-main occasion, is the third lady to start her UFC profession 6-0, together with former bantamweight champ Ronda Rousey and ex-strawweight titleist Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Yan’s six straight wins characterize the second-longest streak in 115-pound division historical past, behind the eight in a row by Jedrzejczyk.

2. Esparza has 39 takedowns, making her the all-time chief within the division. That can check Yan’s 75% takedown protection, which is fifth greatest amongst 115-pounders. Esparza has received 4 in a row, and her eight strawweight wins tie her with Tecia Torres, Rose Namajunas and Angela Hill for second most.

3. Felicia Spencer returns to the Octagon greater than 11 months after shedding to Amanda Nunes in a girls’s featherweight title bout. She takes on Norma Dumont, who lands 5.35 important strikes per minute and has 100% takedown protection within the UFC.

4. Edmen Shahbazyan faces a formidable problem in his effort to rebound from the primary lack of his profession, as he faces Jack Hermansson, who’s No. 9 within the ESPN middleweight rankings. Hermansson has the statistical edge standing up, touchdown 5.03 important strikes per minute, whereas the 23-year-old Shahbazyan is dominant on the bottom, with 4.44 takedowns per quarter-hour.

ESPN’s Jeff Wagenheim contributed to this struggle preview.