Garbrandt more confident than ever against Dillashaw after ‘beating him up’ in training

Cody Garbrandt is supremely confident heading into his first title defense against T.J. Dillashaw.

Former teammates Cody Garbrandt and T.J. Dillashaw have different versions of what occurred during their sparring sessions at Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, California.

Dillashaw, who now trains at Elevation Fight Team in Colorado, claims to have reduced Garbrandt to tears in the training room but Garbrandt, the current UFC bantamweight champion, says he has video footage of Dillashaw being knocked out in sparring.

That footage hasn’t been released, but ‘No Love’ insists that he ‘beat him up’ in practice and is more confident than ever heading into their bantamweight championship grudge match at UFC 217.

“I’m supremely confident against TJ. He’s actually given me the most confidence I’ve had in my career to really push forward and give it all I had,” Garbrandt told Damon Martin of MMA Weekly in a recent interview. “When he was world champion, I was 1-0 and working my way up. I was training with him [thinking] this guy’s the world champion? I know I’m going to be a world champion.

“I don’t feel TJ’s any more of a threat. I know him, I’ve trained with him, I’ve beat him up in practice. I know that’s practice, but with a guy like TJ, he doesn’t like to lose an inch, a round, a submission, anything. So I know it was full-on fighting. So I’m supremely confident going in there Nov. 4.”

Garbrandt, who is the youngest champ on the UFC roster, doesn’t believe Dillashaw’s chin will hold up on Nov. 4.

“I’m better than him everywhere and I guarantee it — he doesn’t have a strong chin,” Garbrandt said about Dillashaw. “He will not be able to take a strike, a blow from me with four-ounce gloves on. He wasn’t able to do it with a 16-ounce glove and he won’t be able to do it in a four-ounce glove. So if TJ makes it all five rounds, goes the distance, that’s a win for him.

“I honestly think where I [said I would hit] [Takeya] Mizugaki with the first hard punch, he’ll go out. The first hard punch I land on TJ, he’ll go to sleep. He’ll go to sleep and I’ll rain down punches on him.”

Garbrandt beat Dominick Cruz to win the 135-pound title last year and will square off against former champ Dillashaw at UFC 217. The blockbuster pay-per-view features a headlining middleweight championship bout between Michael Bisping and Georges St-Pierre and takes place next week, Nov. 4 at Madison Square Garden, New York.