Cody Garbrandt says bout of vertigo affected him in loss to Deiveson Figueireo at UFC 300

Cody Garbrandt battled more than just Deiveson Figueiredo in Las Vegas.

This past Saturday, Garbrandt fought Figueiredo in the first fight of UFC 300, submitting to a rear-naked choke in the second round. The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak for Garbrandt, and according to “No Love,” came at least in part due to a recurring medical issue he revealed in his first statement since the event.

“I felt great in my fight, until I started to experience vertigo I couldn’t control the spinning once it was to the ground. Hats off to [Deiveson] and his camp! I ended up going to the hospital where I was still experiencing the vertigo throwing up until 4 a.m. Thank you Heather and Olivia for monitoring me after the fight. I’ll get this corrected, I’ve dealt with vertigo since 2012. Thank you to the fans that came out to support. It wasn’t my night but I love doing what I do, I’ll be back in there before the year is up.”

According to the National Health Service, vertigo is “the feeling that you, or the environment around you, is moving or spinning” and can be caused by a number of medical issues like infections or Ménière’s disease, an inner ear condition. In a subsequent post, Garbrandt said he went to the Mayo Clinic in 2021 for Ménière’s disease.

Garbrandt had a good first round against Figueiredo, winning the round on all three judges’ scorecards. In the second round, Figueiredo went to his grappling game and overwhelmed the former bantamweight champion on the floor en route to the submission victory. And while Garbrandt did not outright claim the bout of vertigo caused him to lose, while responding to messages on Twitter, did suggest it played a big factor in his performance.

“Not a good look to say what happened to me in a fight by what I was experiencing? It’s the truth takin nothing from [Deiveson], you think I would just lay on my back not getting up whole time I was spinning not trying to get my face elbowed in and fighting through it.”

The loss dropped Garbrandt to 9-6 in his UFC career and once again set back his goals to return to the bantamweight title picture. Meanwhile, Figueiredo jumped to No. 6 in the UFC bantamweight rankings and now finds himself on the cusp of a title shot and a chance to become the 10th two-division champion in UFC history.