Darrion Caldwell, the Bellator Bantamweight champion, apparently has beef with his UFC counterpart.
On Mondays MMA Hour, the newly crowned Bellator champ revealed that he was involved in a confrontation with UFC Bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt during UFC 207 last December.
According to Caldwell, Garbrandt, who was set to fight Caldwell’s Alliance MMA teammate Dominick Cruz, tried to ruffle Cruz’s feathers prior to weigh-ins. The encounter with Garbrandt left Caldwell with a certain distaste:
“He just rubs me the wrong way, I don’t like his vibes. There was a little run-in when he was fighting Dominick Cruz. When you’re in fight camp, or fight day, or weigh-ins, you’re really feeling yourself, you feel me? You feel like you can beat anyone and I think that day he was barking at the wrong tree.”
The mild-mannered NCAA Division I Champion went on,
“He was just… I just had to calm him down because he was doing too much with my teammates. He was just bickering at this one, yelling at this one, and I just had to let him know that this is not the time, ‘look, we got a fight down tomorrow. So if you want to fight tomorrow, stop the bullshit or you’re not going to be fighting tomorrow and it’s going to be a TKO right here.’ Then UFC people got into it and I don’t know.”
Although Caldwell and Garbrandt are champions in two different promotions, Caldwell doesn’t think it’s impossible that he may one day be across the cage from Garbrant. Both are young, extremely skilled, and fan-friendly. In this age of super-fights and volatile contract negotiation, anything is possible.
Caldwell also believes that he possesses the skills to dethrone Cody.
“The gap is already closed,” Caldwell explained. “Cody don’t want these problems. If we were to have an intertwined match, where UFC fights Bellator, I’m taking his head off either way. Either way, he’s going to get the business. He can’t deal with my pressure, you know. If I were to get on top of this guy, he’s either going to sleep or he’s tapping. However he wants it.”
Do you think Darrion Caldwell could beat Cody Garbrandt?
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