Cody Garbrandt promises first round finish of TJ Dillashaw

Last December, in the co-main event of UFC 207, Team Alpha Male’s Cody Garbrandt swiped the bantamweight belt from the waist of Dominick Cruz with a dominant, unanimous decision win.

Though he briefly offered Cruz a rematch, Garbrandt’s first title defense will instead pair him against former training partner and one-time bantamweight king TJ Dillashaw. The two are likely to meet sometime this summer – perhaps during International Fight Week in July.

in advance of their currently unscheduled title fight, Garbrandt and Dillashaw have been engaging in a memorable war of words. Given that they served as the coaches of the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, there’s bound to be much more of that to come.

The latest volley in this ongoing verbal battle comes from Garbrandt, who took to Twitter late on Wednesday night to offer up a prediction on the outcome of his fight with Dillashaw. The champ’s prediction? A first-round finish.

See Garbrandt’s promise of a first-round win below:

https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/849861140611907584

After assuring that he’d snuff Dillashaw inside a round, Garbrandt engaged with some of his fans, doubling-down on the content of his original Tweet.

https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/849861825004945410

https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/849863740862287874

https://twitter.com/Cody_Nolove/status/849864179188088832

This last Tweet is in reference to an infamous incident during which Garbrandt allegedly knocked Dillashaw out in training.

Garbrandt will enter his title defense against Dillashaw with a flawless, 11-0 record. Prior to his defeat of Cruz, he scored Octagon wins over Marcus Brimage, Henry Briones, Augusto Mendes, Thomas Almeida and Takeya Mizugaki. Only Briones survived to the final bell.

Dillashaw, meanwhile, has rebounded from his razor-thin, January 2016 title loss to Dominick Cruz with dominant decision defeats of Raphael Assuncao and John Lineker. He’s 14-3 overall.

Do you think Cody Garbrandt can make good on this promise and take TJ Dillashaw out inside a round? Sound off in the comments section, PENN Nation!

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 4/6/2017.