UFC 285: Cody Garbrandt ready for southpaw Trevin Jones, aims to get back in win column

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Cody Garbrandt excited as the former UFC Bantamweight Champion makes a long awaited return to action this weekend in UFC 285: Jones vs. Gane, which takes place at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

"No Love" Garbrandt was originally scheduled to face Julio Arcee, who withdrew from the contest due to an undisclosed injury, leading to a late change in an opponent as Trevin Jones stepped in for the preliminary card main event.

In an exclusive chat with MyKhel, Garbrandt opens up on his preparation, injuries, next goal, and more, including facing a different opponent just weeks ahead of the fight.

The 31-year-old, who last fought in December 2021, has said he had a great camp and is excited to be back in the Octagon this weekend.

"The preparation has been great, you know, it's been a long 16 months. To get to this point, I had
a few cancelled bouts that happen. But, you know, I kept working hard and put my nose to the
ground and just, you know, showed up every day to get better," Garbrandt said.

"And, you know, we had a great camp, we had a great camp, we, you know, really dived in and tackled the whole area of martial arts. And I'm very excited to go out there on Saturday and just perform."

While UFC call it short notice replacement, Garbrandt disagrees that a fight booked five weeks ago shouldn't be termed as such as feels a change in opponent two days or two weeks before the fight is what he calls a late replacement.

"You know, this wasn't really a late replacement. I mean, this kid picked the fight. It was five weeks ago that Julio Arcee pulled out. And the next day we found a replacement," Garbrandt reacted to short notice replacement question.

The former champion also said if a fighter can't prepare for a fight five weeks ahead of the event, one shouldn't be on the UFC roster.

"The UFC released it, you know, that was a short notice, for me or short notice is a couple of days, two weeks tops, you know, this is five weeks, if you can't prepare in five weeks to be a UFC fighter or have a UFC fight, you don't need to be on the roster. So for me, it was a no brainer," Garbrandt added.

As Jones and Arcee are both south paws, Garbrandt feels his preparation for the fight will not be hit as he has already trained to face a south paw, but acknowledges his opponents strengths.

"I was preparing for a south paw. And Trevin is a south paw as well. So that's why I
chose him from the few names that were offered," the 31-year-old added.

"He's (Jones) durable, he's tough, he comes to fight. And he was southpaw. So I was already training for a south paw, why didn't wanna switch it up. And I was really, you know, finding that code and doing really well, and, and, you know, dissecting the South Paw fighter, so I'm very excited to go out there and just showcase the skills."

Jones heads into the bout having lost three consecutive fights and holds a 1-3 overall UFC record with one no-contest over five appearances, while Garbrandt has lost five of his six bouts since capturing the bantamweight title in 2016.

While he respects his opponent, Garbrandt, who is on a losing streak, said no one can take away the fact that he was a champion and he now aims to get back to where he was, starting with this weekend's meeting against Jones.

"At the end of the day, I'm a former world champion. And that's something no one can take away from me. It's about getting back to that, you know, mindset and the training and just really the mindset, you know, always trained, ready to go and fight, prepare."

"I'm gonna fight here at the end of the day. But I think the mindset, the mentality you take inside there, you know, and I'm not gonna let this man, make a name off of myself, you know, Saturday night, so I have respect for him.

"You know, I have respect for all my opponents. But I know that he hasn't done. I wouldn't even say, a quarter of what I've done to make it here on Saturday night.

Five of Garbrandt's seven wins in the UFC so far have been stoppages, and the former champ picked his first main event fight against Thomas Almeida as his best ever finish in the Octagon.

"For me, as always, you know, my first main event against Thomas Almeida, you know, the kid was 21-0, knocking everybody out, had a lot of hype and you know, stuff behind him,"

"So it was, you know, a great fight you know, I was 8-0, the UFC believed in me to give me give us that main event. You know, we were both young fighters you know, and only one could make it to the top so I feel like that was a huge coming out party for me.

"That big knockout over you know, a man that was knocking everybody out and putting on performances so that will always probably be my favorite knockout."