Cody Garbrandt responds after Jose Aldo tells him to “sign the contract”

UFC bantamweight Cody Garbrandt has reiterated his desire to fight Jose Aldo after a recent back and forth over social media.

Garbrandt hasn’t been seen inside the Octagon since his remarkable knockout win over Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250 last June. Garbrandt was initially expected to move down in weight to battle Deiveson Figueiredo for the Flyweight Championship in November, but “No Love” tore his bicep and also contracted COVID-19 – with the lingering effects of the latter delaying his return.

Aldo, on the other hand, was able to break a three-fight losing streak in December with an impressive unanimous decision win over Marlon Vera.

We doing this @josealdojunior @danawhite ?? We both say send the contracts 💪🏼💪🏼 pic.twitter.com/o6jJRjsKrY

— Cody Garbrandt (@Cody_Nolove) February 17, 2021

“We doing this @josealdojunior,” Garbrandt wrote. “@danawhite We both say send the contracts”.

While Garbrandt may be focused on the task of battling Aldo right now, a recent interview seems to indicate that he hasn’t taken his eyes off of a potential trilogy fight against rival TJ Dillashaw.

“I feel like T.J. caught me at a time where mentally I was not in the best state of mind to go in there and be a champion and that’s why it was taken from me,” Garbrandt said (via MMA Fighting). “He capitalized and I look back on it, I kept going back to those fights, and it’s a little bit of insanity. You have to be insane to repeat the same thing expecting a different outcome and that’s what I was doing… Looking back, hindsight is 2020 always in a fight, but I’m thankful for that. I feel like if I would have went off and defended the title, I probably wouldn’t have been as hungry and motivated as I am today and that’s going to help me out for the next five years of my career or however long I’m going to fight for.

“It’s not to say I didn’t like T.J. I don’t agree with a lot of the things that happened but that’s so far in the past, I’m passed that,” Garbrandt added. “But definitely, taking that in there, my mental state was not what it should have been to go against a guy like T.J. We can fast forward to when he got popped and this and that, T.J. can be on that stuff. He can be on that stuff and he still can’t beat me when I’m focused and I’m mentally there and I’m in there and I’m excited. I’m glad that he’s coming back. He’s got to prove to himself and that’s a big fight for me to come back to in the future. That’s gonna happen.”

Who do you want to see Cody Garbrandt fight next?