Cody Garbrandt returns to bantamweight, meets Julio Arce at UFC 285

Cody Garbrandt will be returning to his old stomping grounds.

After Garbrandt dropped down to flyweight to face Kai Kara-France last December at UFC 269, he has decided to move back up to bantamweight. According to Eurosport NL, and since confirmed by both fighters on social media, Garbrandt will take on Julio Arce at UFC 285 on March 4 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Cody Garbrandt (12-5) was supposed to return to bantamweight in July against Rani Yahya but Yahya was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury. They were rebooked to fight one another in October, but once again, Yahya had to withdraw from the fight.

Last time out, Garbrandt suffered a KO loss to Kara-France in his flyweight debut after losing a five-round decision to Rob Font. In the UFC, Garbrandt is 7-5, with his last win being a KO victory over Raphael Assuncao at UFC 250 in June of 2020. Before the win over Assuncao, he was on a three-fight losing skid with KO losses to Pedro Munhoz, and TJ Dillashaw twice to lose his bantamweight title. He won the title with a decision victory over Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 in 2016.

Julio Arce (18-6) suffered a decision loss to Montel Jackson last time out at UFC 281 after defeating Daniel Santos by decision at UFC 273. Arce is 5-4 in the UFC and has been with the promotion since 2018 and started his tenure as a featherweight. In his debut, he scored a decision win over Dan Ige on short notice and then submitted Daniel Teymur.

Arce went 1-2 over his next three as he lost to Sheymon Moraes and Hakeem Dawodu by split decision and knocked out Julian Erosa in between. After the loss to Dawodu, he made the move down to 135lbs and is 2-2 with his other win over Andre Ewell while his other loss was to Song Yadong.

With the addition of Garbrandt vs. Arce, UFC 285 is as follows: