Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt has been dealing with a back injury since 2017. It was the primary reason for his first pullout for his originally scheduled title defense against T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 213 in July of the past year.
That fight was then moved to UFC 217 four months later, where Garbrandt lost the title to his former teammate via second round knockout. During Monday’s UFC 227 pre-fight media day, “No Love” revealed that he was actually on the fence about fighting at UFC 217, but was forced to go through with it due to financial reasons.