Everything you need to know about UFC Fight Night Font vs Garbrandt

ACC UFC resident expert Felix Heath-Collins with everything you need to know ahead of UFC Fight Night Font vs Garbrandt.

The UFC returns this weekend with a fight night headlined by an awesome bantamweight bout between perennial title prospect Rob Font and former division champion Cody "No Love" Garbrandt. No, this card doesn't have the glitz and glamour of the best fight nights or PPV's, it does have compelling stylistic match-ups throughout. The more hardcore MMA fans should find plenty of pugilism to enjoy within.

In the main event, bantamweight contender Rob Font (18-4) (Wins-Losses) defends his third-ranked position in the division against former bantamweight champion Cody "No Love" Garbrandt (12-3). Whoever comes out of this fight as the winner will be that much closer to the coveted title fight against the champion of the bantamweight division, Aljamain "Funkmaster" Sterling.

In 2019 Rob Font along with some fellow fighters and coaches formed the 'New England Cartel' MMA team within the eponymous New England, Massachusetts region of the United States. Notable members include aforementioned 3rd-ranked bantamweight contender Rob Font, 5th-ranked former featherweight title challenger Calvin Kattar, and one of the 2020 MMA coaches of the year Tyson Chartier.

Rob Font debuted in the UFC back in 2014 and in that time has collected notable wins against Thomas Almeida, Sergio "The Phenom" Pettis, Ricky Simon, and, in December of last year against "Magic" Marlon Moraes. His UFC losses have come against John "Hands of Stone" Lineker, Pedro "The Young Punisher" Munhoz, and Raphael Assunção.

Stylistically him and his teammate Calvin Kattar share a lot of similarities. They both employ technical boxing and kickboxing, along with fluid technique and considerable power. They both also have a tendency to rest their weight on their lead leg, thus becoming susceptible to lower leg attacks such as the calf kick. Font's boxing combinations are crisp, and his finishing instinct is keen. He keeps it focused and fundamental for the most part, which is in stark contrast to his opponent, who rejects the composure of Font and instead dials up the chaos.

As a fighter, Cody Garbrandt personifies the Robert Louis Stevenson character/s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Not only does he have Dr. Jekyll's calm calculation and intelligence when fighting at his best, but he also has the reckless fury of Mr. Hyde when fighting at his worst. The common and yet insanely hard-to-correct problem that "No Love" Garbrandt faces is how emotional he gets. Most hot-headed people in regular life can overcome anger management issues through various methods, but to complicate things for Garbrandt, he fights for a living, and in some ways benefits from the fury he fights with. When he loses his cool and charges forward, Garbrandt increases the unpredictability and randomness of the result for both himself and his opponent. The question therefore becomes: at what point does the rage that Garbrandt fights with hinder instead of help him? He found out the answer to that question the hard way.

An 11-0 undefeated streak in the loaded bantamweight division reached its zenith with Cody Garbrandt's beautiful title-winning performance over divisional legend Dominick "The Dominator" Cruz back in 2016. It went downhill for "No Love" Garbrandt from there with two losses in a row to his former training partner and performance enhancing drug (PED) enthusiast TJ Dillashaw, and then a brutal KO loss against bantamweight boxer Pedro Munhoz. He arguably lost all three fights due to his reckless demeanor, those being the first losses of his pro MMA career. After that rough skid for the once undefeated champion of the bantamweight division, Garbrandt returned in 2020 with a savage end-of-the-first-round right hook KO of veteran contender Raphael Assunção. And when I say at the end of the round, I mean he flat-lined his opponent with literally one second remaining at 4:59 of the second round.

Cody Garbrandt is a bantamweight brawler who struggles to stay technical. All too often the power brawler is seen at heavyweight, but at bantamweight that level of careless brawling is much rarer. Generally speaking the lower you go in weight class, the higher the output of punches, and the lower the power of that output. Men's bantamweight tends to provide both the pace and the fight finishing power of the other weight classes. Now that he has steadied the ship on his journey to reacquiring the bantamweight title in the UFC, Garbrandt must now face another elite bantamweight in order to break into the top of the division.

This headlining fight should deliver on both the elite technique and brutal violence that the fervent fans of MMA expect to see. Garbrandt's penchant for losing his temper and throwing atomic bombs absent any defence clashes with Rob Font's cool, technical and extremely effective kickboxing. If Garbrandt can keep calm and avoid the careless brawling he is famous for, he should have this fight locked in. If Font manages to awaken the beast that is "No Love" Garbrandt when he's furious, the odds actually swing in Font's favour. Yes Garbrandt can land knock-out blows when he charges forward, he also leaves defensive 'openings' that his striking-proficient opponent could take advantage of. Simply surviving Garbrandt's fury for a round could provide Font with a significant stamina advantage that would aid him throughout the five round scheduled main event. However, if Garbrandt can keep his head then he should be able to pick Font apart with the speed and power advantage, if not necessarily the skill.

Also featured on this card is the previously delayed fight between Jack "The Joker" Hermansson (21-6) and Edmen Shahbazyan (11-1), both rebounding off of losses in their past fights. It kicks off the main card for this fight night and promises a traditional mixed martial arts match-up of styles between the submission grappling/ground-and-pound specialist in Jack "The Joker" Hermansson versus the decent kickboxing and "head movement" of "Rowdy" Ronda Rousey's protégée Edmen Shahbazyan.

Otherwise, this card overall doesn't have any fights that distinctly stand out. There's a mixed bag of bouts within though, and some (if not all) of them will surely be exciting. The main event match between Font and Garbrandt is not the most important fight in MMA history by any stretch of the imagination either, but by the way I expect them to fight, it may as well be.

The main card starts for us here in New Zealand at 11:00 AM on Sunday, with the preliminary card starting a few hours earlier at 8:00 AM. Without a UFC event next weekend, you might as well get your taste for combat sports satiated this weekend instead. Or just watch their competitors, who actually pay their people.