SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
June - 2016
17
motion. Garbrandt came into
this fight not even ranked and
he ran right through the man
who looked to be the most
dangerous fight for any fight-
er in the division. All the hype
and momentum Almeida had
is now going to give Garbrandt
the push and exposure that he
deserves.
The team Alpha Male product
has star written all over him,
he has an exciting, fan friend-
ly style of fighting where he
is always looking to finish the
bout (9-0 record with 8 KO/
TKOs), the looks of a cham-
pion with his flashy tattoos
and an attitude to back it up.
He believes he can put away
any fighter that is put in front
of him, and even stated in the
weeks leading up to the fight
on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA
Hour, that after being told Al-
meida predicts a second round
finish, that he 100 percent be-
lieves he will put away the Bra-
zilian within one round and he
backed up the talk.
Garbrandt has shown the con-
fidence of a champion ever
since he made his debut in the
UFC back in January of 2015,
knocking out Marcus Brimage
in his debut.
Garbrandt has always talk-
ed about himself as a future
champion and has been try-
ing to get a big named op-
ponent to prove that he is a
champion caliber fighter but
just never got the chance un-
til facing Almeida. After go-
ing only 2-0 in the UFC, “No
Love” was throwing his name
out there with any guy ranked
in the top 15 of the division
to get a top opponent and
he did when he was booked
against John Lineker, possibly
the most dangerous striker in
the 135-pound division. Lead-
ing up to the fight, Garbrandt
went back-and-forth with
Lineker on Twitter and had ex-
pressed he didn’t fear standing
with Lineker, believing he had
more power in his hands then
a man who owned 12 KOs in
his career, granting him the
nickname “Hands of Stone”.
Lineker pulled out of the bout
due to an illness a week before
the fight, giving Garbrandt a
replacement fighter in Augusto
Mendes who was making his
UFC debut. Garbrandt was ex-
pected to run right through his
new opponent and he did so
with a walk off knockout.
Now, after facing the #7 ranked
fighter in the division in Al-
meida, who was talked about
as the most dangerous fight
for any man at 135 pounds,
Garbrandt is without a doubt
going to be finally ranked and
given how impressive his last
performance was, will be only
a fight or two away from a title
shot.
He has expressed that he is very
interested in being on the UFC
203 PPV card in his hometown
in Cleveland and I believe the
best opponent for him would
be John Lineker, but due to
Lineker already being booked
against Michael Mcdonald and
Garbrandt not wanting to wait
that long for the winner, there
is one opponent that makes
a ton of sense especially with
the time frame of UFC 203 in
September. The fight between
Sterling vs Caraway and Almei-
da vs. Garbrandt had the feels
of an unofficial 4 man tourna-
ment happening and it makes
a ton of sense for Caraway to
now face off with Garbrandt
in a winner vs. winner bout.
If the UFC wants to take that
approach, let Garbrandt and
Caraway fight and the winner
get the next title shot after the
winner of Dillashaw vs. Assun-
cao at UFC 200. Caraway is a
good test and a fighter who
could possibly give Garbrandt
problems stylistically, especially
with Caraway who is respec-
tively coming off an impressive
decision win against another
highly regarded prospect in
Sterling.
With UFC Fight Night 88 in the
books, a star in Garbrandt has
risen and he showed that when
you put him in the big time
fights, he reaches his maximum
potential and is very capable of
being the next champion of the
bantamweight division. Gar-
brandt is a name that should
be on every person’s radar for
the remainder of 2016.
