UFC 207: Cody Garbrandt vs

Cruz ratcheted it up in August when he referred to himself as Garbrandt’s “daddy”, which hit hard at Garbrandt’s modest upbringing with a single mother and an absentee father who was in and out of prison.

Cody Garbrandt pointed at the middle of the ring many times on Friday night, but the only time that mattered was when his hand was raised as the new bantamweight champion.

All 3 judges scored the fight for Garbrandt (11-0, 9 knockouts) of Uhrichsville, Ohio at 48-46 on two cards and 48-47 on the third. Garbrandt also has a tendency to launch forward without throwing feints or strikes which could leave him open to strikes and takedowns.

Cruz used the short pause to recover, though he was never able to dictate the tenor of the action, as he had in previous UFC appearances. He tried his typical in-and-out, circling style, but he had very little offense throughout most of the fight.

The onslaught continued in the fourth, when Garbrandt dropped Cruz as many as three times over the course of five minutes.

Though the two almost came to blows several times at pre-fight events, Garbrandt kept his composure and fought smartly.

You know who didn’t buy into the bullshit that the outcome was already decided before the cage door slammed shut? “But at the end of the day when the 8th period bell rings you can say all you want, get the school all hyped, but I’m going to (expletive) your ass up behind the school”. “No Love” is known for his crippling punching power, but Cruz believes that single strength makes the challenger one dimensional.

But not only did he outland Cruz 83-70, his punches were the ones with significance.

The second round ended with Cruz landed a big hook off a takedown, however before that transpired Garbrandt landed several leg kicks which was a tactic he’d been using since the outset. There are only a few fighters with that kind of capability and one of them happens to be Dominick Cruz. “I look at it as it’s gonna be a great fight (with Garbrandt)”.

The former UFC bantamweight champion said if he didn’t get a title shot, it would prove the game was “rigged”.

Garbrandt taunts Cruz during their fight.

UFC 207 was held last night at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.