Manager updates on Cody Garbrandt, says there are ‘changes coming’

After kickstarting his MMA career with an undefeated run and a brief reign as UFC bantamweight champion, Cody Garbrandt has fallen on tough times. After back-to-back knockout losses to TJ Dillashaw, and a third straight knockout loss at the hands of Pedro Munhoz, it’s going to take some work for him to work his way back into title contention.

For the moment, however, the plan for Garbrandt to take some time off to recover, according to his manager Ali Abdelaziz.

Abdelaziz provided an update on Garbrandt on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“At the end of the day, when you get knocked out like that, I don’t think you should be fighting [without taking some time off],” Abdelaziz said of Cody Garbrandt (transcript via MMA Fighting). “The UFC is doing their job, they’re going to Sacramento, they offered Cody a main event spot — and this is the right thing to do for the UFC, but it’s our job to be like, ‘You know what, guys? We’re going to go back [and take some time].’ Cody’s been having problems with his hand. Especially getting knocked out like that, I think your brain needs a break.

Abdelaziz continued, adding that he hopes the former champ will adjust his fighting style.

“But in a way he’s too much of a fighter,” he said. “When you touch this kid, punch him, he wants to come and kill you, right? He’s too much of a fighter and I think he needs to get himself right, physically and mentally. And I think we’re going to see a lot of changes coming up, the way he’s going to fight. He’s got to go back to the Dominick Cruz era, when he was having fun, when he was enjoying it, when he was embracing it.

“I think it’s more mental for Cody than anything else, than skill level. Cody has unbelievable jiu-jitsu, he has unbelievable grappling, unbelievable wrestling. But we don’t see it, right? You will see Cody come again, but he’s going to come right.”

So there you have it. We won’t be seeing Cody Garbrandt fight again for a little while, but when we does return, it sounds like he’ll be looking to revert back to the fighter he was in the earlier phases of his MMA career.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 5/21/2019.