10 Questions With Cody Garbrandt

10 Questions With Cody "No Love" Garbrandt

I've known about Cody Garbrandt for awhile, but where he became known to fight fans here in Central & Western Pennsylvania was because of the events leading up to him fighting Dominic Mazzotta. When Cody walked into the cage after a win by Mazzotta when Dominic was mentioning how Cody had called him out at an event for a rival Pittsburgh promotion and the two got face to face. It took some doing to get this fight to actually happen (I even wrote an article about it where I called this "The Fight That Almost Wasn't") but Garbrandt Vs. Mazzotta went down & was probably the best/most exciting fight in the Pittsburgh area. Cody won that fight, and even though there were some "extracurricular activities" that went on in the crowd after the fight due to some fans who didn't like what happened in that fight basically starting a brawl it appears that the two fighters who started off with bad blood ended with mutual respect.

Cody had been training with Fight Club Pittsburgh, but awhile back he also started training at Urijah Faber's gym with the members of Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, CA. It appears that training with elite fighters who have UFC experience as well as D1 collegiate level wrestling has taken this very talented fighter to the next level. After defeating Mazzotta back in March Garbrandt had returned to California to Team Alpha Male to prepare for his next fight - against James Porter at Pinnacle Fighting Championship's Pittsburgh Challenge Series 7 on May 24th.

Cody is definitely a fighter to watch. I'm in the process of  writing an article about fighters I expect to see in promotion like Bellator, WSOF or the UFC soon, and Cody will be in that article. Awhile back I had the honor of interviewing Cody, and I finally got it finished. I appreciate him taking time out of his busy schedule to answer questions about him both inside & outside the cage. I hope you enjoy reading his answers as much as I did learning more about Cody "No Love" Garbrandt.

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Cody Garbrandt.  I'm 22 years old, and currently I am 3 - 0 as a professional. (9 - 2 including amateur fights) I have fought at Bantamweight (135lbs) and Featherweight. (145lbs) Since turning pro I have fought mostly for the Pittsburgh-based promotions Pinnacle Fighting Championships and Gladiators of the Cage.

2. How did you get started in MMA?

My mother put me and my oldest brother Zach (10 1/2 months apart in age) into wrestling because all we wanted to do was fight each other. So she thought wrestling was the closet thing to fighting, I played football & baseball and I also boxed, I loved boxing more than I did wrestling, so when I turned 18 I jumped into the cage and fell in love with that. I was constantly fighting growing up and I was heading down a bad path in life. Finding the Lord and getting started into MMA basically saved my life.

3. What gym(s) do you train at and what is it like training there?

 I train at Fight Club Pittsburgh MMA and Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, CA. I train with amazing fighters at both places.

4. What do you feel your strengths are as a fighter? What do you feel you need to work on to be a more complete fighter? 

My strengths would be my striking and grappling, Becoming a more complete fighter would mean believing in myself and putting all my skills together like I have been doing for my past two fights. I'm really starting to find myself in the cage and I'm enjoying my development as a fighter.

5. You sometimes train with Urijah Faber and Team Alpha Male. How has this helped you in fighting & what have you learned from training with such top notch fighters and having Duane Ludwig as a coach? 

I have spent my past two training camps with my new Team. It has helped tremendously learning from some of the best coaches and elite fighters in the world. I've been very blessed to have put myself in this position with hard work and dedication.

6. You recently defeated Dominic Mazzotta in what may have been the biggest MMA fight in Pittsburgh history. What did that fight mean to you? 

This fight meant a lot to me to come out and put a tough opponent away in a very hostile environment. Every fight is a step closer to my reaching my dreams.

7. After your win at Gladiators of the Cage you brought Maddux into the cage for the post-fight interview. Tell us about him & your involvement with children like him.

Maddux is a 7 year old kid who is from the same town I'm from. I got to know Maddux and his family over the past few years. He is battling leukemia, my brother called me one day and said maybe you could help this kid out I had no idea who he was so I reached out to his family and wanted to donate my next fight ticket sales to him, is how the relationship started. I met Maddux and he instantly touched my heart. We kept in touch I would visit him when I was in town we would face-time each other he would make videos and send them to me while I was training he helped me stay driven and motivated through his everyday battle and the struggles he goes through just to live life. He has shown me a lot about live and not taking anything for granted. He has a million dollar smile seeing that on his face makes my day. We walked hand in hand he lead me to my battle March 15th its a day ill never forget seeing his smile and eyes light up as he walked in the cage after my fight makes it all worth it.

8. What are your plans for the future? When will you fight again & who will it be against? 

My plans for the future in life is just to be successful and be happy I want peace in my life when my fighting career is over. My goal is to be the UFC champion I would be selling myself short if that wasn't my goal I do this to be the best. Its hard to tell where ill be at in 2-3 years life always keeps you guessing what makes the ride enjoyable. My next fight will be announced this weekend at the Pinnacle Fighting Championship show, I'm very excited for it!!

(UPDATE: The fight Cody was referencing here is against James Porter for the Pittsburgh Challenge Series 7 event going down May 24, 2014)

9. Who are some of your role models?

I have a lot of positive influences in my life my biggest Role Model is my mother she has been through hell and back and has never lost her faith and has never given up on us children. I get my toughness from her, she showed us tough love growing up and everyday I'm thankful to have her in my life. In MMA its Urijah Faber i always been a fan of his, after reading his book a few years ago and visioning myself training with him its a dream come true when he asked me to become apart of Team Alpha Male!

10. Is there anyone you'd like to thank?

My family for always supporting me in whatever I do through the ups and downs. Mick and Melissa for there help and support over the past year and half my Fight Club Pittsburgh teammates, Alpha Male teammates and coaches. My Uncle Robert Meese he is my boxing coach and has been with me since day one. My Sponsors Jeff Brown, Brenton Whitman, Heavy Hand Tattoo, Kelly's Korner, 922 Drive thru, Prime nutrition, Torque, PGH MADE, NOLAC, Quads Not INcluded, Top of the Line Barbershop, Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club, Dennison T-shirt! Thank the Lord for blessing my life. My management team MMA inc. All my fans, everyone back home in T-county (922) thanks for all the support! 

Grabrandt facing off with Porter for PCS7

With Team Alpha Male team-mates TJ Dillashaw (l) & Urijah Faber (r)

With Team Alpha Male team-mate Joseph Benavidez

With Team Alpha Male team-mates Chris Holdsworth (l) & TJ Dillashaw (r)

With Fight Club Pittsburgh team-mate Jaime Chesney

With Team Alpha Male Head Coach Duane Ludwig

Face-off with Dominic Mazzotta

Celebrating the win with Maddix

With Maddux after the win over Dominic Mazzotta

(Some photos by Christopher Nolan - Met Con Photos - Visit http://www.MetConPhotos.com)

How to fix a flawed scoring & judging system?

Re-watching The Ultimate Fighter from this week and what Dana White said about the elbow that resulted in Steve Mazzagatti deducting a point not being an illegal elbow is just wrong.

Not only was it a 12/6 which is not allowed by the rules, but it was an elbow to the back of the head, which is definitely illegal. 

Dana was getting all upset over how much he dislikes Mazzagatti's referring and he lost sight of what actually was going on. Sure, the referee was doing a poor job of of letting Roger Zapata know that he needed to stop with the 12/6 elbows (even though the episode clearly showed Mazzagatti explaining things to Zapata between rounds) but there was more to this than just that.

Dana was also upset with the way he felt Ian Stephens was performing. While I agree with Dana that it is frustrating to see someone with wrestling as their main (or only) skill not try to utilize the other aspects of MMA and just be a "wet blanket" and lay on their opponent for as much of the fight as possible, I feel that the fact that the referee let Zapata get away with several 12/6 elbows as well as strikes to the back of the head were the main reason White feels Zapata won the fight.

Another thing that bothers me about this episode is the way Zapata felt the fight should have been scored on how a fighter looks at the end. He was yelling into the camera when producers were interviewing him after his win "Look at my face, and look at his face!" saying that he didn't look like he had been in a three round fight while Stephens had blood on him from multiple cuts & showed damage from taking punches.

That isn't always the indicator of who won the fight. fighters like Sarah Kaufman are known for bruising easily & GSP always looks more beat up than his opponents even though he usually dominated them for most of the fight. Johny Hendricks looked way more beat up in his fight with Robbie Lawler, yet somehow the judges gave Hendrick the win.

Had the judges been paying attention to what really happened in this fight it might have ended differently.

I feel the way attempted takedowns and time where a fighter is on top but not doing any damage or activity is given too much credit in the scoring. In my opinion they should not give credit for just laying on your opponent and in a situation where a lengthy failed takedown attempt should be scored to the fighter to successfully blocked the takedown & not in favor of the fighter who failed to take their opponent down.

Then there is the aspect of Zapata getting away with 12/6 elbows and strikes to the back of the head. Maybe had Mazzagatti done his job better the fight would have either ended differently because he took away points for the many illegal strikes by Zapata, or the judges could have not recognized those strikes as significant when they scored the rounds.

While I don't like the way Stephens went about the fight, I don't think Zapata should have won the fight. Not because I think Stephens actually won, just that had the fight been scored the way it should be & had the referee done a better job Zapata would not have won.

The judging system is flawed and needs to be fixed. Maybe the judges and referees could be evaluated on their performance in a way that allows for feedback from the promotions and the state athletic commissions they work for so that mistakes can be addressed. They should be acknowledged when they are doing well, but also informed when they made the wrong call, especially if it effects the final result of the fight.

One aspect for improving the quality of the way referees work a fight might be to have them wear a "ref cam". I had asked referees on my friend list who have UFC experience (Blake Grice, Kim Winslow, Dan Miragliotta, & Gary Copeland) what their thoughts were on this topic. Kim pointed out that the ref cam that I favored (the one seen used by Big John McCarthy on "Bully Beatdown") was mostly designed to fit Big John, and that it wasn't very comfortable to wear. Blake pointed out that a GoPro style camera mounted on the chest (or the even more bulky camera used by the now defunct Pride promotion) would be a safety problem for the times that a referee might need to separate fighters for various reasons during a fight. Gary seemed to focus on the idea that most promotions (especially the UFC) have several cameras cageside as well as "boom cameras" above the cage that catch most of the action so that the action can be seen from all views. He missed my point that this "ear camera" would not only have the best viewpoint for what is going on because it should be the closest to the action, but it could be used as a tool to critique a ref's performance, especially by showing what the referee is looking at during a fight.

Regarding judges, I feel they should be away from the cage and in a room with several monitors so they have all the angles and the best view of the action. (separated from each other of course so they don't effect the thought process of the other judges) I say do this BUT don't give them access to the audio of the commentators so that biased commentators (like Joe Rogan) can effect the way they score round - as well as eliminate the potential for being influenced by the crowd, especially if one of the fighters is "local" to the city where the event is happening.

Maybe fights could utilize instant replay to address issues that might arise during rounds or after a result is announced to make sure that the correct action was taken or the proper result happened? Enough mistakes in judging & refereeing have happened that the system needs to be improved. Maybe the suggested changes I proposed to scoring, the use of a referee "ear cam" and the other suggestions I mentioned would help improve things... but even if everything I suggest is implemented it would take some time to adjust but I'm sure the end result would be a better situation than what is currently in place.

Making things better is what it should all be about, right?

10 Questions With Shawna Anderson

I always try to keep current on the up-and-coming fighters. So when someone I consider to be a friend (Little Patricia Vidonic) asks me to interview someone, they must be worth knowing. All I knew before this interview was that Shawna Anderson is close with Little Patricia Vidonic & that she is set to fight Sarah McLeod at Bakken Rumble this week. Do yourself a favor, read up on Shawna now... she is definitely going to be someone you'll be hearing more  about in the upcoming months. A fighter with tons of potential, I feel she is a star on the rise. I want to thank Shawna for taking time out of her busy schedule preparing for McLeod to answer a few questions. Here's 10 Questions With Shawna Anderson.

Shawna Vs. Sarah McLeod - Bakken Rumble

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I’m 28 yrs old and grew up on a farm/ranch near the tiny town of Streeter, ND. After graduating high school I attended North Dakota State University and received my bachelors in Biological Sciences. For the past 2 ½ yrs I’ve worked as a geologist on an oil rig in Western North Dakota. Last fall I moved to Orting, WA and have been traveling back and forth to work and train. In my spare time I love being outdoors enjoying activities such as hiking, skiing, hunting, and boating.


2. How did you get started in MMA?

I’ve always been captivated by MMA and for years I would watch events and think “man I’d love to do that” but it wasn’t until I moved to Williston, ND in 2012 that I started training. I saw a flier for an mma gym and it sparked a feeling inside me that I couldn’t ignore. As soon as I walked through the door and met the coach, who is now my husband, I was hooked. It was definitely intimidating working with pro fighters and other talented guys since I had zero experience but I stuck it out and had my first amateur fight less than two months later.


3. What gym(s) do you train at and what is it like training there?

I trained at Williston MMA for a majority of my career and it’ll always have a special place in my heart. Our motto was “no one works harder than us” and we had some brutal practices to say the least but when you have great teammates it doesn’t seem so bad. I had the honor of working with some amazing people and made some great friendships. It was such a fun, upbeat atmosphere with great motivation; I’d look forward to training every day. Currently I’m not attached to a gym and am working individually with my trainer and husband.


4. What do you feel your strengths are as a fighter?

I’ve been blessed with certain athletic abilities, such as sheer strength, and my amateur career has shown that I can take a beating and don’t quit no matter what- heart goes a long way in a fight. Also, I’ve been studying Shotokan karate and feel this different style will be a huge asset in future fights.


5. What do you feel you need to work on to be a more complete fighter?

I feel that I’m relatively well-rounded but need to improve my movement and how to utilize angles. I also need to spend time working my take downs and ground game. Jiu-Jitsu isn’t my favorite style to say the least but is crucial in the world of MMA.



6. You are set to fight Sara McLeod at Bakken Rumble on May 16th. What do you expect from your opponent and what is your basic game-plan for the fight?

Sarah’s a striker and I expect her to come out hard with jabs and crosses straight down the pipe. I also love to stand so my plan is to keep it standing and beat her at her own game; however I feel my ground is stronger so if the opportunity is there I’ll go for the take-down.


7. Women's MMA is growing in popularity with the UFC & Invicta showcasing female fighters. The UFC has is adding a Straw-weight division to the roster after the success of the Bantamweight division. What do you think of this and women's MMA becoming more mainstream?

Right now is such an exciting time for female fighters. I think it’s wonderful that it’s growing in popularity and that the UFC has expanded to include women. There are a lot of terrific female fighters that are now getting the recognition they deserve and I hope to be a part of it in the near future.


8. Who are some of your role models?

My role models are my parents, brother, and the people that I’ve had the pleasure of training with: Patricia Vidonic because of her amazing work ethic, positive attitude, and selflessness in helping others-she is a true role model for anyone in the MMA world; Kelly Ellingson for her sheer courage and determination. This is a woman that walked into the gym to take a boot camp class, ended up in the MMA class, outperformed most of the guys, and worked harder than anyone I’ve ever seen. She’s such a terrific person and I’m honored to call her my friend. Last but not least my husband Brandon. His ability as a fighter, how he’s able to motivate and reach others and how much he truly cares for his students/teammates is astounding. He represents the sport very well and I only hope I can live up to the same standard.


9. What are your plans for the future?

I’m committed 100% to my MMA career. I feel I have the tools and ability to make it big so I decided to take a leap of faith, take the summer off from my job, and train like a successful pro fighter needs to train. Up until now my schedule has made it difficult to achieve my goals. I’m so excited to be able to dedicate myself to training, have the freedom to travel to different gyms, spend time with family, and enjoy the outdoors.


10. Is there anyone you'd like to thank?

I’d like to thank my sponsors for helping make this dream possible—Montana Soap, Minute Lube, Dakota Landing, Tri-County Glass, Iron Jaw Custom Mouth Guards, Octane Addictions, You Mad, and Adventure Taxidermy. I’d also like to thank my friends for all their support, my Shihan James McPhaden for spending countless hours molding me into the fighter I’m becoming, my husband for being the best coach/training partner I could ask for from day 1, and most importantly God for giving me the strength and determination to be a pro fighter. Through Him everything is possible and I’m so grateful to my husband for helping me find my faith.