TJ Dillashaw Claims UFC Poured $Millions into Failed Bid for Next Conor McGregor

TJ Dillashaw claims millions of dollars went into the UFC's marketing machine for Cody Garbrandt.

McGregor (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC) / Dillashaw ( Steve Marcus/Getty Images)

On Dec. 30, 2016, a superstar was born at UFC 207, or so we thought.

Conor McGregor Names the Toughest Opponent of His Career - and It’s Not Khabib

Cody Garbrandt defeated then-bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz in one of the most impressive performances in UFC title fight history. Garbrandt racked up style points across five rounds, dropping Cruz multiple times, showboating each time.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

A Tough Act To Follow

At the top of his game for 25 minutes, the undefeated Garbrandt had tons of potential at just 25 years old until he ran into heated rival TJ Dillashaw, who turned his world upside down with back-to-back KO losses at UFC 217 in 2017 and UFC 227 the following year.

Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

It' didn't get much better for "No Love" after that, going from a perfect 11-0 record to 3-6 since the night he took the title from Cruz.

"He had a lot of pressure on him as well," Dillashaw said of Garbrandt on The Casuals MMA. "He had an amazing fight against Cruz. I've never seen Cody Garbrandt be that good..."

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Dillashaw Heard $6M Went Into Marketing Garbrandt Before Their Fight

Believing Cruz was a tailor-made matchup for someone as speedy as Garbrandt (the fastest fighter Dillashaw has ever trained with), Dillashaw says the UFC saw something in his former teammate as well - an investment opportunity to create "the next Conor McGregor".

"Coming off of that, the UFC is like, 'Hey, this is our next big horse'. Like, let's put some money into him. So they marketed the s*** out of him, put him in a bunch of commercials, got some celebrities behind him."

"From what I was told, they put like $6 million into marketing him before our fight, gave us 'The Ultimate Fighter' [season 27]. He went– way bigger than me. Massive stardom, fast. A lot of pressure there, too. They wanted him to be the next Conor McGregor..."

Of course, not everything went according to plan, with Garbrandt losing the title in his first defense. 'No Love' was a busy champion while it lasted, with media obligations left and right in 2017, including a legendary link-up with the late NBA star Kobe Bryant as part of a UFC brand deal with Body Armor.

🥲 The UFC just posted an Embedded supercut from the UFC 217 fight week back in 2017.

The Kobe Bryant, Francis Ngannou and Cody Garbrandt linkup is weirdly nostalgic❤️
(via @ufc) pic.twitter.com/A2wzZMagA9

— Home of Fight (@Home_of_Fight) August 30, 2024

Cody Garbrandt was scheduled to face unranked bantamweight Miles Johns this weekend at UFC Vegas 100 but withdrew a few days ago due to undisclosed reasons. Garbrandt has won two out of his last three fights at 135lbs, being submitted by Deiveson Figueiredo at UFC 300 in April.

His greatest rival TJ Dillashaw is no longer in the sport, fighting his final fight against Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280, all while injured and compromised.

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