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‘UFC 207’: Dominick Cruz Vs. Cody Garbrandt Added To Fight Card As Co-Main Event

By Lindsay McCane
Published on: 06:43 PST, Oct 25, 2016

UFC 207 already had a stacked card, but now another fight has been added as the co-main event: Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt.

This will mark the second time Cruz (22-1) has defended his bantamweight title, the first being in June when he defeated Urijah Faber by a unanimous decision. Garbrandt, who made his debut in the UFC in January of 2015, is currently undefeated at 10-0. According to ESPN, Garbrandt has had five straight wins, including four by knockout since he joined the UFC.

Garbrandt called out Cruz in August after he knocked out Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 202 in only 48 seconds, marking his ninth knockout of his professional career.

“I’m gonna break your jaw,” Garbrandt said. “I’m gonna show you who your daddy is for real.”

Cruz, who was working as an FS1 analyst for the television crew at the time, accepted his challenge by pumping his fists and motioning for Garbrandt to come towards him.

Since the call-out, Cruz and Garbrandt have gone back and forth on the media.

“Let the youngster enjoy his hype train fresh off his win,” Cruz told “The MMA Hour” in August. “Let his people keep on building that false sense of confidence that they are all instilling into his psyche over this period, it’s good for him.

He added, “I kill hype for a living.”

In August, Garbrandt detailed a run-in he had with Cruz, who he said was “trembling with fear.”

“Him getting physical? He’s never gotten physical. When does he ever get physical?” he told MMA Fighting. “That guy is b***h-made. I said ‘just get ready for it. You can’t run.’ I said, ‘I should slap you right now, you’re lucky I got a fight.’ And he just was trembling in fear. I could feel his body radiating fear from me. I felt bad for the guy. He was, he literally had fear. I could see it, I could feel it off him. I can judge someone by body language and eyes. He was scared, looking around like security will come stop this, will you come get this animal out of here, can you get this savage away from me. And that’s he’s going to be trying to do: run in there. Reebok should give him a pair of shoes just to run full-time in the fight.”

Cruz, 31, won back the bantamweight title in January after beating T.J. Dillashaw by a split-decision. He was previously stripped of his belt in 2014 after enduring a series of injuries that kept him out of the octagon for nearly three years. The only fight Cruz has ever lost during his UFC career was in 2007 when he was submitted by Faber.

Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt was added to UFC 207, one of the most anticipated fight cards of the year. The card also features former heavyweight champions Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez. Werdum took the belt from Velasquez by third-round submission in June of 2015 and then later lost it to Miocic in May before beating Travis Browne in September.

Along with a bout between the former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks and Neil Magny, Ronda Rousey, the former champ who sat out of the sport for a year, will be fighting at UFC 207 in a bout with Amanda Nunes, who will be putting her belt on the line. A flyweight match between prospects Louis Smolka and Ray Borg has also been added, according to the UFC.

Below is the complete UFC 207 lineup.

  • Amanda Nunes vs. Ronda Rousey
  • Dominick Cruz vs. Cody Garbrandt
  • Fabricio Werdum vs. Cain Velasquez
  • Matt Brown vs. Tarec Saffiedine
  • Neil Magny vs. Johny Hendricks
  • Alex Garcia vs. Mike Pyle

Watch the video below to find out how Cody Garbrandt plans on defeating Dominick Cruz.

https://youtu.be/epaAagKr0Hc

UFC 207 is set to take place on December 30 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. Tickets go one sale on Friday, November 4.

Are you excited for UFC 207? Who do you think will take home the bantamweight belt: Cruz or Garbrandt? Leave your comments below.

[Featured Image by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images]

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