Cody "No Love" Garbrandt A "No Show" In The NAAFS Bantamweight Tournament?

It's no secret that Cody Garbrandt AKA "No Love" (5-1) was favored to win the bantamweight tournament after his 3 round clinic over Tyler Saltsman at the Fight Night in The Flats just a few months ago.

Riding high off a big win, like the one No Love posted over Saltsman, usually pushes a fighter to the next level in their maturation. Their training becomes more focused, their confidence in sparring goes up a notch and they are ready to take on any one who is willing to sign on the line.

However, in No Love's case, we were left with nothing. No news of a highly anticipated showdown with NAAFS bantamweight king Isaiah Chapman, there was no re-match in the works for the out worked Saltsman.  It was almost as if everything that happened didn't, and the win, in what turned out to be one of the most talked about fights in this site's history, seemingly drifted away into obscurity.

Eventually rumors surfaced that Garbrandt was forced to withdraw from the bantamweight tournament and that he had withdrawn from training completely. Stories of bar fights traveled around social medias but nothing solid until now.

Check out the details after the jump:

I feel obligated to point out that we support a strict no-snitching policy here at StandThemUp.Org and that will not change, so the details of the following events maybe slightly vague due to said policy.

I was able to catch up with Cody the other day and talk with him a little bit about where he has been, and it turns out,the news isn't great.  Here is the paraphrased story:

Upon leaving a gathering with some friends at a local restaurant/bar, Mr.Love was escorting a few close friends home as their appointed designated driver.  Once in the parking lot, a fight between patrons was in full effect and although not directly involved, Mr.Love decided it be better to get his friends home for the night. 

Apparently, a passer by decided that they were not happy with this on going melee and decided to take it upon themselves to attack the group and those around...with a knife.  What happens next is sketchy and due to our strict policy, we are forced to leave it at this.

After a brief struggle and a snap kick or two, the attacker was provided a free nap courtesy of Cleveland's finest but not without Mr. Love sustaining some lacerations in the process, one of which is shown below.

Unfortunately, the injuries that No Love sustained during the events, that may or may not have occurred, were enough to prevent him from competing in anything, much less a cagefight against Ohio's finest.  After speaking with Cody and he is working on getting back in the gym but unfortunately will not be able to compete within the required time to finish the tournament.

In the mean time, welterweight Travis Soto (7-3) has said he is willing to drop to 155 to fight Mr. Love and even went as far as to call him out on Facebook:

I am not sure when or why Soto (who typically fights at welterweight) has set his sights on a fighter multiple weight classes below his, but apparently he has every intention on dropping the necessary weight to meet No Love in a Ohio based cage near you. I am the sure that I am not the first to say this, but I really hope that Cody rights the apple cart and gets back on track.  He is talented enough to go anywhere within the sport and has the style fans can get behind.