T.J. Dillashaw was rooting for ex-rival Cody Garbrandt at UFC 300

Despite their history, T.J. Dillashaw hoped Cody Garbrandt would get his hand raised at UFC 300.

Garbrandt (14-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC) was submitted by Deiveson Figueiredo (23-3-1 MMA, 12-3-1 UFC) in Round 2 of their bantamweight bout this past Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.

Dillashaw thought Garbrandt was able to winning, and went so far as praising his former rival.

“I assumed Garbrandt was going to get the win,” Dillashaw said on the “JAXXON PODCAST.” “I feel he’s the all-around higher athlete. They each have power – we all know that going into the fight. Figueiredo’s got power at ’25s, however it’s translated and we’ve seen it at ’35s, as well. Garbrandt’s got power – he’s just so fast. He’s just like the fastest person I’ve ever trained with, fought against – insanely fast. His fast twitch is crazy.

“I assumed that he’d get the win. I used to be hoping he’d get the win, I used to be actually rooting for him, even with all of the bullsh*t drama occurring between him and us fighting one another. I used to be rooting for him. I hate to see a fighter lose his confidence because while you lose your confidence, your skills go downhill. For those who’re not going to imagine in yourself while you get in there, you then’re not going to find a way to do what you possibly can do to the fullest.”

Dillashaw knocked out Garbrandt in back-to-back title fights at UFC 217 and UFC 227. The previous bantamweight champion says Garbrandt’s chin has since deteriorated, which made him more tentative while fighting.

“He unfortunately doesn’t have a chin anymore,” Dillashaw said. “People have seen that. He can get cracked, and he’s gotten knocked out after I beat him. He got knocked out a couple of more times, so everyone was ridiculing him for getting knocked out and for being overly aggressive, not having good defense. Now they need to hate him for being too defensive.”

For more on the cardboard, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 300.