The Savage Truth: Bantamweight Ramblings

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media. I just got home after a great holiday weekend and had the pleasure of sitting down to watch Cody Garbrandt’s curb-stomping of top Brazilian prospect Thomas Almeida on the big screen. I have to say, it was just as brilliant the second time around. It was a career-defining performance for the unbeaten Ohio native, who hung the first “L” on Almeida’s previously untarnished ledger in emphatic fashion. Let’s just hope enough people tuned in or can find the replay, because that knockout was a beauty. That raises the question about having a couple relatively unknown bantamweights headlining a card on Sunday night of a holiday weekend. I can’t help but wonder what a fight like that would have done for Garbrandt had it been the co-main on a bigger card. Don’t get me wrong: he’s gotten a tremendous push inside the MMA bubble. I just wonder if an opportunity was lost to expose this young terror of a fighter to as many casual fans as possible. I’m guessing he’s going to be fighting before a much bigger audience and under a brighter spotlight from here on out, so long as he keeps putting on performances like Sunday’s. Going into Sunday, Almeida was the favored fighter, looking to knock down the door to the bantamweight top five, while Garbrandt was the lesser known of the two. “No Love” threw that notion out the window in just under three minutes. I imagine Garbrandt will find himself in the top 10 as soon …

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