SACRAMENTO, California -- Cody Garbrandt operates under the belief that yesterday’s stitches become today’s worthwhile scars.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight is covered in tattoos. Ink may be more common today than ever, but the trend obscures the fact that tattooing is at its core a ritual scarification process -- a process the 24-year-old takes to heart. He is willing to endure the many pains life offers because he knows scars demonstrate character, no matter what judgments are lobbed his way due to physical marks.
After a Tuesday morning mid-camp practice at Ultimate Fitness, home to Urijah Faber’s Team Alpha Male, Garbrandt sat on a blue bench in front of the gym’s lockers near the front desk, reflecting on a decade of fighting in the ring and a lifetime of fighting outside it.