Cody Garbrandt (9-0) delivered a devastating right hand to KO Thomas Almeida (21-1, 4-1 UFC) in the very 1st to shock UFC fans. No one was expecting this outcome at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday night in Las Vegas.
The undefeated fighters in the bantamweight division promised a fiery contest, as both UFC bantamweights possessed attacking style with weak defensive skills. From the start, Garbrandt was the aggressor and began connecting from the first exchange onwards. Even though, Almeida tried to fight back and landed occasional punches of his own, he failed to keep his aggressive opponent at bay.
It was the quick and powerful right cross of ‘No Love’ that rocked ‘The Terminator’ and sent him crashing to the mat. At this point the American wasted no time to finish off the Brazilian by with couple more shots before the ref. John McCarthy pulled him away and stopped the fight.
After winning the fight in spectacular fashion Cody had nothing but good things to say, and everything that followed made sense too.
“First and foremost, I have the utmost respect for Thomas Almeida, he’s a future champion. I’m looking forward to more fights with him. But, hey, can I get some respect now? I wasn’t even ranked in the top 15. I knocked out an undefeated guy. Gimme some credit.”
“I’m the hardest hitter in the division. I’ll knock anybody out in my division. (Bantamweight champion) Dominick Cruz or whoever. I’m going to be the champion. My goal is to bring the world championship back to the 922.”
After the impressive performance, Garbrandt is most likely to place himself in the top ten and could feature against a top bantamweight fighter, such as `trainer partner Urijah Faber or Brian Caraway.
