Chael Sonnen believes there’s a common misconception surrounding the recent woes of former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt.
At the start of 2017, Garbrandt was riding high off the back of a memorable victory over Dominick Cruz, which left him 11-0 as a professional mixed martial artist and sat on the MMA leader’s 135-pound throne.
But in the six years since, “No Love” has had his hand raised just once in six fights. After consecutive knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw left him without gold and a distance away from contention, another setback in a wild scrap against Pedro Munhoz continued a topple down the ladder.
While an emphatic rebound against Raphael Assunção in 2020 provided a brief respite, 2021 saw Garbrandt return to another skid, with his most recent defeat coming via TKO against Kai Kara-France at flyweight.
With his form in mind, as well as the four knockout losses that have come with it, some have suggested that Garbrandt is unlikely to recapture his old self and is likely to suffer more devastating defeats down the line.
But while the ‘weak chin’ narrative has existed for the past few years, one former UFC title challenger believes that claim is incorrect.
Sonnen: Garbrandt’s Form Is A Strategical Issue, Not Physical
During a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, former middleweight and light heavyweight contender Chael Sonnen pointed to Cody Garbrandt’s struggles whilst discussing the debate on Michael Chandler’s often-branded ‘reckless’ approach.
Rather than a compromised chin, “The American Gangster” believes Garbrandt’s string of knockout losses has come as the result of stubbornness with regards to strategy. Whilst he has the skills to fight with intelligence, Sonnen thinks “No Love” often disregards logical gameplans in favor of brawls.
“There are guys that are stubborn,” Sonnen said. “Many people have gone as far as to impolitely call for the end of Cody Garbrandt’s career, and this has been going on for a while. First time I heard someone call for that was two years ago. Garbrandt’s chin is not as suspect as his record may appear. He’s just stubborn.
“He gets into firefights. At parts of his career, he would win those firefights… He finds himself in those now — same way as (Michael) Chandler, where he could use (his skills) just to get in, change elevation, go to a clinch, go to a little more wrestling… but he gets stubborn. Garbrandt won’t listen… he just won’t,” Sonnen added. “Even if he made a deal with himself in the back, ‘This is what I’m going to do in this fight,’ he won’t do it.”
Having had a pair of contests against Rani Yahya cancelled in 2022, leaving him without an outing since December 2021, Garbrandt will be looking to bounce back with a rejuvenated performance when he returns this year.
“No Love” is slated to share the cage with Trevin Jones at the UFC 285 pay-per-view, set for Las Vegas on March 4.
Do you agree with Chael Sonnen’s assessment of Cody Garbrandt’s losing skid?
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