Cody Garbrandt was supposed to be fighting for the flyweight title this Saturday against Deiveson Figueiredo.

Garbrandt announced a move down to 125-pounds and was immediately getting a title shot. However, he tore his bicep and was forced to withdraw from the bout and Alex Perez stepped in to face Figueiredo.

Now, just days away from the fight, Perez slammed Garbrandt saying he couldn’t hang at bantamweight anymore which is why he dropped down in weight.

“I just think Cody can’t hang with those ’35ers, so he came down to try and fight us smaller guys,” Perez said to ESPN. “I just feel like he didn’t want to put in the work, kinda tried to take a shortcut to a title.”

Cody Garbrandt, of course, saw what Perez said and fired back at the title challenger.

https://twitter.com/cody_nolove/status/1329135223083323399?s=21

“Alex can hang off deez (nuts),” Garbrandt responded.

It is obviously disappointing for Garbrandt to not be fighting for the title this weekend. It would’ve been a fun fight but Perez believes having him fight Figueiredo is a much more competitive scrap.

“For the fans, Cody and Deiveson is a straight stand up fight,” Perez said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “They will try and kill each other. With me, I have the wrestling the jiu-jitsu no one has seen Cody take anyone down. Stylistically, I bring something different, it will be a different fight.

Alex Perez is currently on a three-fight winning streak and is 6-1 in the UFC. He is looking to pull off an upset on Saturday night by dethroning Figueiredo.

Cody Garbrandt, meanwhile, returned to the win column last time out with a highlight-reel KO win over Raphael Assuncao. Before that, he suffered three straight knockout losses to Pedro Munhoz and T.J. Dillashaw twice.

What do you make of Cody Garbrandt blasting Alex Perez for saying he tried to take a shortcut to a title by moving to 125lbs?