On Tuesday, UFC Bantamweight Champion Cody Garbrandt officially withdrew from his upcoming title defense at UFC 213.
Garbrandt was scheduled to defend his title against former UFC Bantamweight Champion TJ Dillashaw on July 8.
Garbrandt was forced to withdraw from the fight due to a back injury. Last week, he went to Germany and got a stem-cell procedure with hopes of staying in the fight.
After the announcement was made, Justin Buchholz, the head coach of Team Alpha Male, appeared on Stud Radio and discussed Garbrandt’s injury.
“There just isn’t enough time between that injection (and the fight),” Buccholz said. “The guy just needs to do some old fashioned healing.”
Buchholz went on to say Garbrandt has been suffering from a lingering back injury for over a year. He said their team needed to be cautious and had to avoid training that could further damage his back while he was training to fight Dominick Cruz.
“He can move, but it’s debilitating,” Buchholz said. “There is a big difference between fighting at a world class level. I’m confident that if we had to fight TJ, on July 8, we could get a cortisone shot, numb that (expletive) up, and maybe get him in there. I believe he could take out TJ (and) win the fight with the injury like that, but you have to think of him as an athlete and as a 25-year-old. It’s his (expletive) spine. It’s his back, and it’s at risk right now.”
