Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt has had a rough few years but he has said that he has found his passion back for MMA once again.

Garbrandt looked like on his way to stardom when he defeated Dominic Cruz at UFC 2017. However, he lost his title to T.J Dillashaw in his very next match, and also went 1-5 after his championship win.

He was knocked out a total of four times in that run and also encountered a failed move down to flyweight. But Garbrandt returned to the Octagon last Saturday. He was up against Trevin Jones and although it wasn’t pretty, he got the victory by unanimous decision, due to his wrestling and technical skill.

This win was exactly what Garbrandt needed. In an interview with BT Sport, he said that this victory has helped him in rediscovering his love for MMA.

“Now we’re just correcting mistakes we made, move forward, and keep on climbing back to the top,” Garbrandt said.

“I believe that the love and passion is back. Obviously, the hard work is always there. It’s what I was born to do, bred to do. Having a solid team behind me, Dewey Cooper brings the energy every time,” he added.

“I wake up and I get excited not only to work with them, [because] I have the ability and the opportunity to work with them. It’s not like I have to, I get to. That’s such a privilege to work with a high-level coach…  The sport is amazing, it’s evolved so much. I’m just happy to get a good win and grow from that,” Garbrandt concluded. Find more MMA news and good betting odds in Nextbet. 

The former UFC Bantamweight champion is 31 years old right now. He has played 18 MMA matches, winning 13. 10 of these wins have been by knockout, whereas three have been by decision. Out of his five losses, four have been by knockouts and one by decision. Sure, he was a favorite player in the betting world too.