Morning Report: Cody Garbrandt addresses controversial tweets from his past

MMAFighting.com

On Wednesday, right as Cody Garbrandt was verbally sparring with T.J. Dillashaw about being ‘classless’, a series of old Garbrandt’s old Tweets resurfaced wherein the former bantamweight champion liberally used a racially charged epithet.

Initially, Garbrandt was unwilling to discuss the matter, putting it of as something that happened“when I was a teenager,” but yesterday, “No Love” addressed the controversy with MMAJunkie, explaining his mindset at the time.

“First and foremost, it shouldn’t be embarrassing,” Garbrandt said on Thursday. “I’m going to be a man and address it once, and that’s it.”

“It’s lyrics. I grew up hanging out with blacks, Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, selling drugs. That’s a street word we would always say. It wasn’t like I was using derogatory words toward anyone. That’s how we grew up. It was kind of normal. That’s it. It’s a learning experience for a lot of people to not use that word in this day an age.”

Garbrandt, 27, put the controversy off to a relic from his youth but balked when it was noted that the dates on the tweet were from 2012, abruptly ending the interview.

“Everyone’s just trying to figure out some negativity,” Garbrandt said. “I’m so positive, and I have great things going on this week. Nothing’s deterring me from my focus. That’s that. It’s the last time I’ll address this question. And I’m actually done with this interview with you, as well.”

Garbrandt rematches T.J. Dillashaw this Saturday in the main event of UFC 227.