Champion Dillashaw rejects Garbrandt’s peace offering
Animosity commands cage as bantamweights square off at UFC 227
LOS ANGELES — A defeated Cody Garbrandt thought he was taking the first step toward mending fences in his bitter rivalry with former training partner T.J. Dillashaw when he extended his hand and offered congratulations backstage after their fight in November.
Dillashaw grabbed the olive branch and ripped it in half.
“He did try to be a little bit more cordial after the press conference that night and started with some small talk, and I just wasn’t interested,” said Dillashaw, who won the bantamweight title with his knockout of Garbrandt at New York’s Madison Square Garden. “I was like, ‘I just dealt with your (expletive) for a year and a half. You’ve been a complete (expletive) (expletive).’ Excuse my language. He tried to grab me by the throat at the staredown. He just pushed it overboard. What changed now? Just because I slapped him upside his face and knocked him out? Why is he trying to be fake?”
As difficult as it might be to believe, the statement qualifies as a toning down of the rhetoric ahead of their rematch in the main event of UFC 227 on Saturday at Staples Center.
As compared to the oral assaults leading into their first bout, things have been downright civil.
“There’s a lot less trash talk from his side,” Dillashaw said. “It’s not that easy to talk when you just got knocked out.
“Cody doesn’t deserve this rematch, but he does deserve to get his … kicked. That’s why I agreed to it. I will have him behind me after Saturday.”
The animosity stems from Dillashaw’s acrimonious exit from the Team Alpha Male gym in Sacramento, California. While both sides point fingers at the other, the breakup turned ugly fast.
Dillashaw, 32, expressed a bit of empathy for Garbrandt, whom he said is fighting the battles for some of the TAM veterans such as Urijah Faber who no longer are active fighters.
“Me and Cody were never even that close outside the gym,” Dillashaw said of his opponent five