Cody Garbrandt responds to bizarre victory over Xiao Long at UFC 326

UFC veteran Cody Garbrandt has given his thoughts on his bizarre victory over Xiao Long at UFC 326.

It’s been a long time since Cody Garbrandt was known as a UFC world champion, but even with that being the case, he has done a great job of sticking it out through all of the adversity he’s faced over the years. Last weekend at UFC 326, he was able to defeat Xiao Long via unanimous decision – but he did so under controversial circumstances.

RELATED: Cody Garbrandt explains how fighting helped him find peace ahead of UFC 326

Long was deducted two points for repeated low blows, leading to quite the tense stand-off between him and Garbrandt during the fight. Alas, instead of getting too over-excited as he has done in the past, Cody kept as cool as he could and ensured that he picked up the win, even if it didn’t come in the manner he would have liked.

In his post-fight press conference appearance, Garbrandt had the following to say about what went down.

Garbrandt on his strange win over Long

“It was a very bizarre fight,” Garbrandt saida at his post-fight news conference. “My coaches had me prepared for a kind of similar style of him coming out aggressive and chaotic, but we didn’t think it was going to be that chaotic.

“… I got inadvertently kicked, you know, a few times, and I’ve never been hit that hard, in the groin to where I was, I was throwing up inside there. But I didn’t want to go on and win just from that, and then I rallied from the crowd. Then 30, 40 seconds later, got hit again.”

“There are a lot of up-and-comers coming in to fight,” Garbrandt said. “There’s this David Martinez from Mexico. He’s a young prospect that’s just beaten two top guys. He beat (Marlon) ‘Chito’ (Vera) a few weeks ago. He’s beat Rob Font. He’s in the top 10, and I like his style. It’s a good fight for me stylistically to get back into the top 10.

“… I’d love to be active, too. We’ll get this knee checked out, make sure my nuts are still there (after the low blows) and go from there. Hopefully I’ll fight before the summer.”

Quotes via MMA Junkie

What’s next for ‘No Love’? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, BJPENN Nation!