With Julio Arce out, Cody Garbrandt faces Trevin Jones at UFC 285

As some of you may have heard by now, Julio Arce (18-6) is out of his upcoming clash against former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt (12-5), a bout he was forced out of five days ago due to a knee injury that will require surgery.

Today, February 4, 2023, Garbrandt was given his replacement, Trevin Jones (13-9).

This bout, like Garbrandt’s booking with Arce, is still expected to go down at UFC 285.

UFC 285 is to go down on March 4, 2023, live from the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada.

Cody Garbrandt has had an awfully rough go as of late.

This began with a series of injuries he has suffered since winning the title back in December of 2016, cancelling many scheduled fights he had and forcing him out of action for years at a time, more than once.

The former champion has fought just six times since claiming the belt at UFC 207, and what’s more, he’s gone 1-5 in those six fights after opening up his career with a record of 11-0, having just defeated the greatest bantamweight of all-time with ease.

Of those five losses, four come via knockout. His career has quickly become one of the greatest falls from grace ever.

But, his new opponent, Trevin Jones, has also had a tough time over recent outings.

Jones made his UFC debut in August of 2020 with a record of 12-6.

Not much was expected out of him, and the one thing that got fans to think he could do well in the UFC, his last three defeats at that time came via split decision.

However, Jones shocked the world in his UFC debut, where he knocked out the 16-2 Timur Valiev in round two; both had 18 fights coming in, and Valiev had loads of hype coming to the UFC.

Valiev was 16-1 in his last 17, that lone defeat also came via split decision, and one of those wins prior to joining the UFC came over Chris Gutierrez, someone that’s gone 7-1-1 thus far in the UFC’s bantamweight division.

Jones followed this up with another knockout win, this one over Mario Bautista, also coming in round two.

Bautista has since gone 3-0 over his last three outings with two finishes.

But, since then, Jones has dropped his last three bouts to Saidyokub Kakhramonov, Javid Basharat, and Raoni Barcelos, all three via unanimous decision.

Who wins this bantamweight clash going down in one month at UFC 285?

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Brady Ordway
I became a fan of combat sports when I was 12 years old. I was scrolling through the channels and landed upon Versus, where WEC was televised. Urijah Faber fought Jens Pulver for the second time that night. That's the first fight I ever saw, and I was immediately hooked. So eventually, I began covering the sport in the fourth quarter of 2018, and have since started writing about animals as well. If you'd like to see those pieces, be sure to check out learnaboutnature.com!