Concerned fans believes Cody Garbrandt looks ‘drained’ ahead of his flyweight debut and Kai Kara-France admits he cannot wait to test his opponent’s chin.
The former UFC bantamweight champion returns to action at UFC 269 on December 11 in a brand new weight class after struggling at 135lbs.
‘No Love’ has endured a wretched run of form since beating Dominick Cruz to win the world title in 2016, relinquishing the belt in his first defence against bitter rival TJ Dillashaw.
A second loss to Dillashaw followed, before another knockout to Pedro Munhoz and then a clinical defeat to Rob Font in May this year.
The 30-year-old undoubtedly has plenty of talent and a move down to flyweight appears to be the way he wants to go.
However, some fans are concerned for the former champion at that weight class and, less than two weeks from weigh-in day, it appears he has reached the skeletal stage of the cut.
Cody Garbrandt looks drained already and hasn’t even made 125. Sheeeesh
— Stephan Burden (@StephTheBurden) November 29, 2021Kara-France is a legitimate contender at 125lbs and ‘Don’t Blink’ has told fans to expect to see Grabrandt come unstuck at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“This is the biggest stage in the world and you don’t want to be cutting weight for the first time in front of all these people on the biggest pay-per-view with me standing in front of you,” Kara-France told MMA Junkie Radio.
“You don’t know how your body is going to react. Being a bantamweight earlier in my career, when I did make the cut down to flyweight, it took a few fights to kind of see the success and just figuring out how your body is going to react. Over time that just comes with experience.
“This isn’t my first time cutting to flyweight in the UFC. This will be my eighth appearance now so there’s nothing new to me.
“For Cody, he’s trying to reinvent himself at this new weight class and there’s a lot of questions to be answered. How is he going to recover from the weight cut?
“How is his chin going to hold up? How’s his cardio going to weigh up? And also, being in this new weight class, he was fast at bantamweight.
“Probably one of the fastest, but everyone is fast at this weight class and it’s all about scrambles, it’s all about transitions and for me. This is what we do.
“That is how we train in these camps, it’s just about angles, speed, footwork and then finding the holes and putting them away.”
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