all right in this interview I sit down with the one and only Cody garbrand the former bantamweight champion of course
in 2016 he had an incredible performance against Dominic Cruz then he kind of lost a few he was supposed to fight at
the weekend at UFC 292 but sadly had to withdraw today we talk about all kinds of things we talk about the ups and
downs the emotional Journey that he’s been on how he took care of a young man called Mannix how he inspired him to
continue with his chemotherapy and helped him beat his battle against leukemia it’s an incredible interview on
Cody garbrand very very honest as always check it out [Music]
that’s perfect you look good to me there brother all right cool I try to download on my uh where I have a Macbook it’s uh
it took too long brother so I just go no no you look good sharp crystal clear
I mean she’s over jumps on you think he’d know he’s been on here about four times right because we’ve got the same
coach every time bro don’t the connection is on the phone he’s walking around he’s breaking up you look [ __ ]
crisp you look golden in my office I’m trying to add to my bookshelf but that’ll come yeah yeah yeah how’s life
called yeah I know you had a disappointing uh uh turn of events having to pull out of
the fight it was tough man um since I moved back I mean moved out to Vegas I’ve been you know just trying to catch
a rhythm you know new coaches teammates you know I thought it was supposed to fight Yaya twice he pulled out and I
ended up having surgery um after the second flight this last fight same thing I got injections five
days before the uh fight on my neck I had three herniated discs that was happening the chi care France fight Camp
didn’t know got out here and uh you know got to that fight and then you know
tried to make it to July I was supposed to fight July I had to push the fight back from Mario ended up tearing my knee and then I literally think that when I
came back that month and a half later after the rehab of the knee I had like a foolished hair
um and I was born uh Fred restaurant and through this stupid ass question mark
kick for no reason never throw kicks like that you know he was throwing flashy kicks I’m like all right I’m gonna mirror I’m gonna throw something
cool through that [ __ ] and I feel like I tore my hip and it’s been battling that ever since but my back was the worst I
got injections three and a half weeks ago managed you know I’ve been compromised all Camp I finally just got my hip and
ride on Wednesday because I put out the fight I’m like I’m gonna check everything out get everything set up we’re gonna you know heal and come back
and I’m tearing my hip as well with the back so um that’s where I’m at now I just got
done speaking to Ali supposed to you know get me into some you know good um
you know doctor stem cells well we’re gonna go to Columbia and do that I have a call on Thursday morning uh with them
to go to bio accelerator bio Excel yeah um so go to that me and Lance leave fly
out Friday to Russia he’s going to fight an ACA Lance Palmer he’s in the quarterfinal fight so he literally had
no one to go with uh him out there to Camp you know he’s helped me out a lot since my career started I followed him
to Alpha Male you know now he’s out here doing his camps in Vegas so we leave to Russia um to go he fights September 2nd
so I’m gonna go out there and you know help him out Corner him hope he gets the big win he’s looking good so and after
that it’s back to you know the docks and seeing what we can do to get back in there so like I said life’s on that I
guess a career standpoint is you know it’s in limbo because you know the injuries of setbacks but you know that’s
how we deal so we just bounce back and do what we can but other than that man my life’s good my son started kindergarten this is his third week uh
he’s loving it uh so on that standpoint it’s been nice still good nice good good
what’s your son’s name again hi hi and how old how old is he he’s five and a
half now no way five I haven’t gone on 25. that’s amazing man congrats congrats
and that’s all the matters in life that’s the real important stuff but I’m just looking at your age there 32 and it
sounds like the the body like you know the injuries and things like that sounds like you’ve really struggled over the years Cody it has been you know I think
that uh for me and you could probably you know contest to this as well I mean
we identify this is what we do you know this is our therapy you know this is what we go to clear our head we have
something on our heart around our mind we go to the gym and work it out until that’s out of our mind and we go home
and we’re satisfied with ourselves as humans because we put in those that work of you know paying the you know paying
the rent daily as a lot of people call it so you know for sure it’s it’s something that I’ve always had him you
know when I was um you know growing up you know with coming to the gym that sometimes I
walked I crawled I always had that gym I had that boxing gym that my uncle always had and sometimes I needed that gym more
than it needed me you know that’s kind of always the case so being able to go out there and just kind of like
throw your worries and your your your thoughts and stuff you go in the gym and just let loose and be yourself so
um I think that’s what I do I just you know maybe over train um a lot you know but it’s hard to say
what’s over training what’s under training in the sport because it’s evolving so much you know there’s new studies there’s rest days there’s heart
rates and you know you’re trying to figure it out you know we’re trying to figure out like fight Camp’s different because you have a different adversary
that you know faces you different challenges whether they’re a grandpa a wrestler or they have come in great
conditioning shape you never know until you step in there and you have to prepare yourself for every devil that you’re going to face
um yeah going in there so you know how it is um you know I’m just hopefully that I
remember I told my back right after I won the cruise fight I was on Ultimate Fighter coaching that and and tour it
and then the UFC sent me to Germany I got some or general kind therapy and that’s the only thing that really helped
out a lot I did stem cells I did you know injections um actually before we fought Madison
Square my back was I couldn’t even walk so about 10 days before the UFC flew me out a lot of
people don’t know this flew me out 10 days prior to the fight and I got I got eight epidural shots before the uh TJ
fight and flew across the country to New York and yeah as everyone knows that’s how it goes but um you know I promised
myself um from that fight moving forward that I wouldn’t go into the the fight if
something happened like that um and I would just compromise all Camp you know I I felt great
um I was about five weeks out I kind of started feeling you know not so good but you know it’s the the Peaks and valleys
of the the fight Camp you know you’re not gonna feel good every day every week you know
um it was about about a month out and uh tearing my back again got MRI they went
and gave me injections um in the back and honestly it didn’t I’ve had so many injections so many
what is it cortisone shots um steroid shots in your back to help numb it and just get to the fight so I
was just get to the fight with people we’ll fix it after well you know I sat back and really thought about it and
each day each day passed I was like I was gonna get better or something better than injections are going to set in they’re going to be fine and then tell
us you know about what the week before the fight my back went out three different times to where I was Monday and Tuesday was I had to do recovery
because I you know couldn’t do anything and then Thursday and Wednesday getting back to MMA wrestling and I’d be shot Thursday was done and after the Friday’s
practice we did um MMA kickboxing you know the whole up down and getting our heart rate ready
supposed to be the last kind of MMA practice and I just literally got in my car drove to my son’s school to pick him
up and I literally couldn’t get out of the car to get him into his car seat that’s when I called Ali and I said man I said this isn’t good you know we’ve
been found out that you know very unfortunate you know I hate pulling out of fights but you know I’m glad they got
a replacement with Mario and uh Hey if you but by what you said you had no choice it’s not like you were bitching
out you know what I mean you couldn’t even get out of your car for crying out loud um watching that though Saturday night
there was a big Spotlight on the bantamweight division of course cheetah was on the arpeggio that was your fight and obviously there was a replacement
the main event as well um is it hard as a guy I mean you go
back to 2016 called and you were the man I mean that fight you went against Dominic Cruz who was in his prime as
well let’s point that out that was one of the very best performers performances that we’ll ever see in the
Oxford I mean that was beautiful right and as everyone knows right is it hard
now because you’ve been at that level and then you know you had the big fights with TJ De La Shaw we shared the card at
Madison Square Garden and then now you’re 32 years old yeah the body the injuries you’re having to pull out and
then you’re seeing guys like O’Malley becoming massive stars is that hard for you to watch
you know uh it’s not I truly believe that a lot of My best performances are ahead of me I just have to you know get
the body right once my body’s right you know mentally physically emotional I’m I love this I truly do this I would you
know it’s the best job I ever had you know it truly is but uh you know I’m happy for those guys I’m happy for you know sugar Shawn to finally get out
there and you know Beyond a lot of hype anyone out there and he rose to the occasion and put away
algemane um you know looking at that fight I just think that alexman was just too
um Avid on getting it to the ground you know it wasn’t very comfortable with the movement you know
um I had the best footwork and movement in the whole bantamweight division you know and I knew that was going to be a
problem um being on the bigger Cage being a wrestler and the way that you know sugar Shawn’s a counter-stricker and he lunged
in left himself open and you can’t do that on a good Counter-Strike her you know he knows
what azerman’s game plan was let’s get to the ground wrestle him and you know sugar Shawn was like I’m literally going
to fight tooth and nail to not get taken down and you know after me made a
costume mistake that paid him I made him lose the title but like I said a map for sure Sean I think it’s great you know
he’s uh he’s a champion in our division I think he has a lot of holes and weaknesses that are going to be exposed
a lot but right now let them enjoy the championship and what he was able to do uh on Saturday night yeah no listen you
can’t hate on that I mean what it did was phenomenal knocks out algae man’s tail and well tkos him like that
Sensational um don’t want to bring up old stories or old things that are gonna piss you off
but TJ Dillashaw right you have a lot of history with this man of course now he’s
retired so many injuries the shoulder blew out what he thought he was well it was Al Jermaine Sterling
how how is the well you probably don’t have a relationship but but yeah for one
of a better word how is the relationship between you and TJ these days I mean I said I don’t communicate with him don’t
have him I think he has me blocked on every every phone every platform we were just talking about that you know I’d
block anyone on Twitter anyone that talks [ __ ] I block them are you the same way I’m making people come back I like
to mute them because they still follow you still see your [ __ ] you know oh so that’s like torture for them
because they can’t interact they can’t interact but they still see your [ __ ] and it’s like man you know so I hit the
mute button that’s a that’s a great uh I’m doing that too much um Twitter’s
kind of you know I get on almost just during the fights to see what everyone’s saying and talk a little [ __ ] you know of a fight that I I want uh but yeah he
has me blocked everything but you know talking about that man Dom um he actually had me blocked since 2016
on Instagram and Twitter and you know we ran into each other at the US Open and uh you know we spoke
um numerous amounts of times um you know in the past few years um actually when I fought he fought
Pedro and I thought Kai on the uh December card we sat at the weigh-in ceremony Wayans and talked for an hour
about life and just things so uh yeah in a block of me unblocking me from Instagram so I thought that was pretty
cool but I don’t know if TJ will you know I I don’t have any animosity or hatred swim it is what it is you know I
mean it’s um you know like I said I’ve been saying that since we thought you know what he was
about who he truly is and you know everything comes to light you know so um I hope he’s happy in life he’s got
children hope that you know you learn from those mistakes and you know he’s healing and he’s you know just
you know living a good life that’s it that’s all I can you know wish for and ask for from I don’t have any anger
you know maybe when I was a young kid you know when I was younger I was 25 26 years old you know what I mean I’d I’d
had everything going on and I was young you know now I have a child maturity of this man 32 years old now you’re like a
zen master you know nice and calm and no negativity no I will man it’s tough to
carry that around you know what I mean like it’s tough to just carry all that I guess we would call it hatred or anger
like yeah that stems over to everything it’s hard to take their hat off I I propped you know Henry and Colby all
those guys they can stand at Persona all the time like it’s hard to do you know it’d be hard to do and like uh you know
I just I just like to be myself um you know we had our you know we had our moments we had you know we were
fighting each other and um you know uh that that chapter’s over with you know and then this is too when this career is
done we’re gonna do other you know hopefully I found other passions that truly that make me happy get me up every
day you know and and motivated to do them obviously being a father is you know as you know is one of the best
things outside of anything I I think wake it up and just you know being a father especially my son being five
years old the conversations that we have and things that we get to do last night he was wired up and I get him back with
his mother and I are split so we do week on week off and you know it’s the first
couple days I don’t know what goes on his mom’s house but you know dad runs a pretty strict program here you know I’m
kind of you know regimented in that so we’re in bed and he’s like Dad I want I want a box I want to fight I’m like all
right you know we do one two and then he rules and he
slips my punch and comes back with you know three punches I said you know and we added added up two two punches three punch floor punches and he’s just doing
100 times and he’s not kidding he literally wanted to do that combo a hundred times
um that night yeah so it’s cool you know it’s fun it’s fun you know I just do a little bit of things with them you get
him a little bit of wrestling um a little boxy but man honestly those moments you know that far and in between
from you know fight camp and as we’re so busy going in the gym and focusing on our career having a little bit of time
with him to you know just show my passion and see if he likes it rubs off on him and if he wants to you know
pursue boxing and wrestling I’m more than happy to you know be that Dad that sits in the bleachers and you know
cheers them on yeah and as you say that’s what life is all about that’s what really matters now
as I say you were the champ and then I don’t need to tell you you know some uh some results didn’t go your way shall we
say right and there was a lot of talk I’m sure you probably saw people saying Cody should retire and all the rest of
it and you were such an aggressive fighter you went forward and you stood there you try to tell you had powerful
hands you had knockout power incredible wrestling and a lot of the time you’d get The Knockout and that’s what made you such a fan favorite
was it that style that kind of bit you in the ass and then that then you re responded by winning who was it Trevin
Jones you get you get the job done you get back to winning ways number one how good good did that feel and what would
be your message to people that say Cody garban should retire he needs to hang it up he’s lost too many recently
you know obviously there’s always that in your mind like ah you know like will I will ever be as great as I was that
night on December 31st 2016. I don’t think anybody will have a performance
like that in their life you know at all I that was one of those that I prepped
for it all year you know I was knocking everybody out I finally got my my call up um and just was was excited for it
excited to go on there and perform something I dreamed of of doing for so long you know
um at 25 years old it was great I still feel like a lot of my best performers are ahead of me
um I’ve grown referred so much as a fighter as a human um as a father
um I look at the fight game a little differently than I did at 25 I’ll fight anybody I’ll you know you know that’s
how you are when you’re first in the UFC you’re so hungry and and just want to climb to the top and get those paychecks
and for me it wasn’t even I never even focused on the money I just folks I wanted to fight and I think you know
obvious so you said uh knocking everybody out how I thought was made me a fan favorite I still felt like that
you know when my body’s allowing it to when I’m able to prepare the way that I need to prepare to to
know go on there and aggressively and intelligently you know break down my
adversary so that’s those are there you know I like a lot of people don’t understand
I’ve had a lot of coaches in the last since 2016. you know um buckles and uh you know kind of just
drifting away from the team I ended up having Michael Malott who was retired for almost four four and a half years
and he decided to come back to um MMA and look at him now he’s crushing
it in the UFC super happy for him um I use Mark Henry for a while always all the way in New Jersey so I spent
time in New Jersey and California and then you know I moved here but that’s great
that’s great going around all these different gyms in different areas because the more you can take from this
guy take from that guy take from this person because I mean it loyalty is fantastic and I love to see that of
course right loyalty has got to be respected and commended but one guy can
only show you so much for so long you know what I mean so you go into other places for a little bit here and there
taking as much information as you can I mean that’s fantastic yeah I enjoyed it
I enjoy a lot I’ve been um for me I’m kind of setting set in stone I I like the Combos and the way that I that I
fight little things that obviously you can learn from like I said go on a little bit of time but uh having those you know like when we me and buckles
were we worked that whole year you know he’s the the head coach and we just work two times a week and I sparred he
oversaw you know the sparring and other things and and all the other coaches Chris Holdsworth Danny Castillo you’re
my favorite they helped out so much as well um in preparation for training um but me and him we had a we had a nice
flow good style and a lot of his style was from Master Tong he used uh Master time oh yeah I remember that guy yeah
Muay Thai he was a bit of a crazy guy my gosh I’d have to call and make sure that he was going to show up at every session
you know that I had planned because if he went out the night before and gambled you know for sure he was not it was a
bit of a drinker right yeah I spoke cigarettes all the time mental is he Ty
is he Thai yes yeah yeah yeah but that’s how it is when I get out to Thailand trading they would they would even the
Tie fighters they would rock up [ __ ] face still drunk from the night before I have a monster workout session and then
fight again in a couple of days they don’t give a [ __ ] yeah they don’t they they’re that tire ties are a little bit
different you know my son’s got 25 percent high in him so I hope you don’t get that uh for sure but uh yeah you
know it was great you know that was a great year and then going around and then coming here it was it was a little bit different I had to like you know
find coaches and teammates you know uh nothing wrong you don’t have the UFC performances too you know very thankful
for that you know it’s a great facility to use and use the uh amenities there
um you know but getting the teammates and coaches that are going to show up give you the work that you need for me at alpha male I
knew what I was doing Monday through Saturday it was time schedule you know obviously you can
move it around a little bit something you know needed a different uh training but I do better with um structure you
know so out here yeah like you make your own training schedule and you know you hope that things show up people show up
on time uh so that was like a huge adjustment for me you know out of 16 months I was out of the Octagon New
Coaches new teammates know um I was supposed to fight Julio Arthur he ended up pulling out five weeks
before the fight he towards ACL unfortunately and then Trevor Jones stepped up
uh you know we call them because I kept that fight because he was South Park training First South Paul
um so we just kept it as a southpaw that’s why we picked Kevin and it was it was a good fight you know I was patient
you know he didn’t really do much in the fight you know I was waiting for him to come forward like all the interviews he talked about how he was going to bring
the fight and this and that and he didn’t really open up at all it could be a counter-striker as well I’m one of the
best kind of Strikers I feel like you know hit him with the some hard quick [ __ ] and then get on you know being
elusive in there and then making them come and cracking like I did with Crews and a lot of other fights that uh I had
so it was just a different matchup for me it was just a different I just you know but it got the win at the end of
the day um and that’s all that matters because you look on papers wins a win um you know with everything that
happened uh going up to the fight the day of the fight I literally couldn’t have used my left arm
um almost the whole fight I had Stingers like I said I got the injections five days before and I another UFC fighter
that was in the same operating room you know as he’s like oh yeah he’s like I get these all the time he’s like this is
like my third one I’m like third one dude I’m like wow he’s walking in there I mean he was
pretty banged up so I was like this makes me feel a little bit better he had some more time than me I had five days
you know he’s like yeah I’ve gotten them you know like two days before a day before the fight and they seem to work
really well I’m like well that makes me feel better but my mind really didn’t at all I remember in the ShakeOut I ran
this double leg down like instead of knee penetrating and knee driving across I [ __ ] circled down something I
didn’t do all camp that I corrected with my coach Chase Pammy and ran it down dude got the worst thing or couldn’t use
my left arm all day I’m like you know what this is it this is this is God testing you see how bad you want it want
this you know we have everything going on like let’s let’s stay um in the present that’s what we can
focus on and you know walking down the Octagon it was one of those things too I’m just like yeah it was
so so what is the timeline for the comeback then because obviously you’re going to get the stem cells I think it’s
the thing you said you’re going to go down to Colombia um when do you think you’ll be stepping back in there I mean I love to uh you
know I’m not gonna put a timer on it I just need to heal my body maybe a little reset
unfortunately like I said once I moved out here this is the fifth fight camp that I had since moving to Vegas a year
and a half ago um obviously those I only fought one time so I’ve been at the high you know
sharpness skill level um almost five five camps with one five
one fight so that’s I think it’s another thing too that’s been uh it’s tough I haven’t I fought four times
in one year in 2016 and that came at a cost later my Meats on my knees on my back kind of same thing that happened to
my knee now my back same thing that’s kind of um unraveling there’s something that I gotta fix and do on over like
middle week uh middle week have like a Non-Stop recovery day where you’re just doing yoga movement instead of just
trying to you know Redline it every day and then take that Sunday off um so you know I gotta like really look
at my schedule with how I’m training um you know I the thing is I’m fast I’m
quick and I’m powerful I’m very explosive so that comes at a cost so I have to you know really drop a schedule
that worked for me to where I can have maybe you know I was looking at you know what Mighty Mouse Dimitri how he trains
you know I was talking about you know he never has three red line days in a row I have to
look back at one of the interviews you spoke I can just reach out to him and see you know see what he does but um
it’s just different you know I gotta figure out how how to train that will get me to the fight you know that’s ultimately and each each fight Camp I
can be ready that week you know so I don’t have to be sharp that whole entire time that’s something I’ve always done like I can fly this week so it’s hard to
keep that sharpness I want to be able to peek into fight week you know um that thing keeping that eight weeks I
usually do 10 to 12 week fight camps maybe cut it down a little bit if I always stay in shape weight’s never an
issue for me I eat clean uh stay on my diet or I basically you know watch my
you know eating year round and I’ll ever blow up you know the biggest I get is like 62
um for 35 so it’s not an issue to make the way so so let me ask you this and I guess
we’ll end on this and and again this this is no way in any way shape or form any disrespect but there’s a lot of
disasters out there you know what I’m saying what would you say to all the goddamn [ __ ] haters because I lost
many times in my career and I turned it around and you’ve already been a champion but I came back and was able to
become the champ at the end of my career what would you say to anyone out there that says hey Cody you know you got
knocked out a few times you’re getting injured you need to retire what would your response to those people be
you know it’s that’s that’s the great thing about this sport you know I have a great support system around me and if I
I’ve always told them hey if I start Ed my Awards or things start going not
so good for me and that kind of um middle space or start doing some weird
[ __ ] you never know you know like I have good people around me that’ll tell me hey it’s time to walk away you’re done
you’ve done more than a lot of people in this world you know what I mean we’re you know you hire one
percent of the world that could become a world champion something that we love to do what we came from the obstacles
adversity that has you know been plagued the whole entire life you know I can sit back and you know if this was it was
that that was my last fight I can sit back and and be proud of myself you know obviously you know being a world
champion and having some you know awesome performance of the nights being in a fight in the UFC I was a small kid
from Ohio you know that grew up you know dirt poor but I had a dream and encouraged and hard to chase this dream
and had a lot of people along the journey that helped me so uh I’m winning at life you know um I feel bad for those
people that have to get online and come in and comment on pictures or send you
DMS that you suck and you’re just tired because like what are they doing with their life that’s what I kind of that’s my first thing when I see that I’m like
man this this person’s super healthy you know what I mean so uh I never really um
pay too much attention to him but obviously as you know like it gets in your mind you’re like you read it you’re like all right who knows you know if you
don’t say it doesn’t you’re lying to yourself because um we’re just human nature you’re human and that’s how we we funnel things
thoughts it’s just a thought so when I see that coming I just you know have a good thought come in my mind like look
how far I’ve came look at what I’m able to do things I’ve been able to do I’m able to put my son in a nice private school you know like things that I’ve
always wanted to dream of doing it was like algeman said Saturday night he said words very very similar to that of
course he was devastated he lost the belt but he said look listen I’ve won it live he said you know where I come from
my family growing up the situation wasn’t very good but now you know things are great I’ve made plenty of money I’ve
became champion of the world all the rest of it he said I’m not feeling sorry for myself I’m I’m very very blessed to
be in this position I tell you I do want to ask you about this real quick I apologize I forget his name I saw a post
the other day what would the young kid with leukemia mathematics Maddox Maple
yes this is the this is the post that made me want to reach out because you’re a [ __ ] you’re an awesome human being
called it and Maddox if people remember they cast their mind back to when you beat Dominic Cruz you brought him into
the auction it was such a beautiful moment and you handed him your belt uh and he’s now uh just started college
right he’s a theater in high school yep Senior High School oh sorry part of me yep uh Senior High School yeah Max from
my hometown um I was an amateur I was a teenager um and he has diagnosed with leukemia at
five years old I had a sister that was the same age so my brother reached out to me and let me know you know what was
going on I lived in Cleveland I was actually up there training in Cleveland steeping music and all those guys at
Marcus Marinelli so I didn’t come home too much on the week and I had to get out of my hometown and you know so we
did like a little charity event how did the hotel come up to support we bought all our rocked his uh shirt to the fight
you know get all like the proceeds to him uh his family to go to like whatever they wanted to do we developed the
relationship once he got out of the hospital I wanted to come meet him give him some gloves and then I had a sponsor that uh paid for him and his family to
come to all my fights you know from amateur all the way up to all my Pro fights in Pittsburgh and Ohio then I got
the car to the UFC they came to every UFC fight that was there I mean he was just something that he looked forward to
and that’s something that he um agreed to do like his dad called me one time and it never really called me like he
was always a really positive going and we just had this concern in his voice he called me one time and he said hey I
think we’re gonna lose Maddox he’s not going to take his medication he wants to give up and he had like nine and ten
months left of chemo you know it was crushing it you know it was about to be done taking his pills you just said he
doesn’t want to do it anymore you don’t want to live and he called me I was on alpha male at the time trying to get into the UFC
um you know it was hard it was tough you know I was trying to get in the UFC and this kid was you know calling you know his dad was calling me to help save his
kid help give him some words of encouragement to keep taking his medicine you know and to fight and and dude that’s the only time that you know
I’ve ever had to call him in the five years five and a half years that he took you know that he he battled the disease
and I’m calling FaceTiming them and um you know just giving a little words of Courage man I made a little pact with
him I said you know hey Max you make sure you take all your medication you know you fight this you’re you’re almost
there you’re almost done and I said I promise you I’ll make it to the UFC and I’ll take you to every fight with me I
said when I won the world title I’ll wrap that belt around you we’ll do it together I said you never have to go to this battle alone and I’ll never have to
walk to to the battle alone as well and uh he said all right got off the phone never once um complaining about taking
his leg leukemia 10 months later he took his last dose of chemo uh August 25th
and uh he called me it had a huge party I couldn’t go obviously I was getting ready for a fight and uh he called me
and said all right he said oh you got to keep your end of the deal and about was that I thought January that year so
seven months later I got called to the UFC and fought and he was there and uh you know we made it to UFC and he
started you know and then we UFC con window bar so we’re actually trying to Shelby man I’m so grateful for him for
so many things but he got one of her story and we’ll say hey man I want to you know present it to Dana and see you
know if he can walk you out and um yeah so we was able to I got you know I
said oh we want to walk out for the world title shot that’s what we wanted to do like it’s his dream it’s a school and as nervous as I was I was you know
uh at the T-Mobile was so nervous and Max like kind of just calmly held my hand when walking out to the Octagon I
said you got this you know that’s all I needed to be like wow like just calm and just focus you know focus on what I had
to do and then you know I won that world championship and it was great you know I mean obviously becoming a world champion was amazing I always believed that I
could do it but uh being able to give him his Spotlight um and just knowing that the warrior and
and the champion that he was in life to go through what he went through at a young age and to be able to you know
wrap that relative you know life life Champion it was amazing man and everyone
around the story it was awesome you know and one one thing else too Mike that uh
it sits with me um always was when we fought together on a master Square Garden card and we
obviously both lost their titles um that that evening remember I had uh not many people with me in the media you know not
many uh people around me but I was doing an interview and you came up and just told me and said hey man this is it you
know a lot of you know you said some real [ __ ] to me um as I was there because it was still obviously not all
comprehending or registering like what just happened you know what I mean you’re like I just got a larger title and then you got to go do this media and
face to face the face the words and the critics and stuff and you know so I appreciate you always being real and you
know being a stand-up guy you know both of us you know you know both were nice you came up to me as a bet in the world
you lost we lost it the same night and um I really appreciate that and that ever sticks with me uh
you know human that you are to come out of your way you know to you know say it’s going to be all right you know so
that that that that took the thing off a little bit so I appreciate that always have yeah well thank you Cody I mean to
be honest you know it’s great it’s a moment in time being champion of the world it’s it’s amazing of course it is
it’s things that we’re super proud of but as you say it doesn’t last forever the fight career doesn’t last forever you know what’s really important is
family of course we want to provide for them and that’s why we do this you know I mean that’s who we are at the core but
things like what you did for Maddox I mean making a difference like that inspiring people like that that’s what really matters and I’m proud of you I’m
sure Maddox loves you and will never forget what you did for him there and you should be proud of yourself called it we’ll have to say goodbye I’ll have
to let you go but thank you for joining us wish you were all the best in recovery come back when you get five
bucks let’s jump on we’ll do it again but Cody garbrand the former Champion the [ __ ] the man still going strong
get the stem cells get back in there and we can’t wait to thanks bro I appreciate it man have a
good day take care brother all the best and there he is the former champ what a
story Harrington that is regarding young Maddox I’ll never forget