Cody Garbrandt (11-0) battled the defending champion Dominick Cruz (22-2) for the bantamweight title Friday night at UFC 207 to a unanimous decision victory, giving Cruz his first loss in nearly seven years.
The first round was all Garbrandt, finding his range earlier and connecting with Cruz's chin on occasion. He used early leg kicks to set up his punches and seemed to have Cruz flustered early. His composure was key as the challenger calmly attacked, never seeming out of control and mocking the champ on missed attacks.
In the second, it was much more of the fight we're used to seeing from Cruz, as he seemed to regain control of the pacing of the fight and moving away from Garbrandt's heavy hands.
The third was all back to Garbrandt, whose errant headbutt busted open Cruz.
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He proceeded to connect big-time on at least four shots that appeared to stun the champ.
To open the fourth, Garbrandt appeared to have Cruz knocked completely out only for the champ to stay alive with an unreal recovery. He proceeded to knock him down twice more before ending the round on top.
Garbrandt appeared to take much of the fifth and final round off, simply holding out for a decision.
One of the fastest rising stars in UFC today, Garbrandt had won by TKO or KO in nine of his first 10 fights.
Other than a submission loss to Urijah Faber, Cruz's unorthodox style of fighting was unable to figured out by opponents throughout his career. More than four years after a loss to Faber, he'd overcome the California Kid at UFC 132 in a decision victory.
Cruz went on to beat the current best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Demetrious Johnson by decision.
After a knockout victory over Takeya Mizugaki, Cruz beat up on T.J. Dillashaw and Faber yet again before his highly-anticipated matchup with the lethal Garbrandt.
He hadn't lost since 2007, and held a 13-fight win streak.
