Exclusive | Jimmie Rivera believes former champ Cody Garbrandt is being protected by management

Exclusive | Jimmie Rivera believes former champ Cody Garbrandt is being protected by management

UFC bantamweight contender Jimmie Rivera (21-1 MMA) will be looking to extend his current win streak to twenty-one in a row by scoring a victory over Marlon Moraes at June’s UFC Fight Night 131 event in Utica, New York.

Rivera, who has gone a perfect 5-0 since joining the UFC ranks in July of 2015, had recently been campaigning for fights with both Cody Garbrandt and Dominick Cruz, but ended up settling with Moraes after neither “No Love” or “The Dominator” would sign on the dotted line.

While Jimmie still has a formidable task ahead of him in the form of former World Series of Fighting bantamweight champion Marlon Moraes, Rivera adamantly believes that former title holder Cody Garbrandt is being protected from him by his management team.

“I think at the end of the day, Marlon’s manager is really not protecting Marlon. He’s just protecting his golden boy which is Cody (Garbrandt). So, I think Ali is just protecting his golden boy Cody, because he knows if I get to him, I’m gonna whoop his ass! So I think at the end of the day, you know, they just throw people around to try and derail me. And I like it. And I’m just gonna fuckin’ keep training harder to go in there and fuckin’ whoop some ass.”

Rivera, who already holds signature wins over Iuri Alcantara, Urijah Faber and most recently Thomas Almeida, is hoping that another impressive victory over Marlon Moraes in June will culminate in a shot at bantamweight gold.

“You know, I’m ready to get on the mic. Especially if I get the win, I’m gonna get on the mic, and I’m gonna speak my mind. Because, listen, this is 6-0 right now in UFC if I beat Marlon. You know, that’s the focus right now just beating Marlon and then calling out whoever’s the champ at the time. You know if TJ’s gonna still fight DJ, who knows what’s going on with that whole thing. But, you know, if he doesn’t have a fight lined up, I should be the next one. I don’t know. It’s like I feel like I’m on what happened with Demian Maia, you know what I mean kinda thing. He went like seven or 8-0 until he finally got a title shot. It took forever. So I kinda feel like that in way and so I don’t know. You know what I mean. It’s not up to me. I’m not the promoter or the matchmaker. I’m the hired help.”

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