Last year, Cody Garbrandt fought four times, scoring three first-round knockouts and then dancing his way to a wide unanimous decision over the greatest bantamweight fighter in history, Dominick Cruz, to win the 135-pound title. Garbrandt’s meteoric rise from prospect to champion was one of the best years in recent MMA history, but apparently we ain’t seen nothing yet.

Speaking with ESPN’s Five Rounds podcast recently, Garbrandt laid out his plans for the future which hopefully will include the man who won MMA Fighting’s 2016 Fighter of the Year award, Conor McGregor. Garbrandt says that he would love to box McGregor in the future and that he would “knock the f**k out” of the UFC lightweight champion

“I think going in a boxing ring with Conor would be great, or in MMA. . . No ill will towards the guy but I actually believe I’m a better boxer. I feel like I’m one of the best boxers in the UFC.

"I'll go in there and knock Conor the f**k out in a boxing ring, just to be honest. There's no difference, southpaw, orthodox, that guy could come out and fight on his hands for all I give a f**k. I would knock him out, that's it. I have the best boxing in the game, in the UFC, and I’m ready to showcase it on another level.”

McGregor lucrative bout with Floyd Mayweather this summer opened the floodgates for MMA fighters to begin seeking their own excursions into boxing. Garbrandt himself began his combat sports career as an amateur boxer before fully committing to MMA and he is regarded as having some of the best boxing in the UFC already. His dominant decision victory of Cruz was done almost entirely with his boxing skills.

But before he can begin working on a way to show McGregor those skills in person, Garbrandt has to settle unfinished business with former teammate and training partner T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 217. The bantamweight champion says that his first title defense will be a stepping stone to elevate him to even greater opportunities, either McGregor or other top fighters, be they in MMA or in boxing.

"I've got T.J. ahead of me. He's a great adversary, great opponent to level up, to go to that next level with a great masterclass performance . . . I'm excited to go in there and take out T.J., and whoever else - Mighty Mouse, Conor. You can give me top boxers, Adrien Broner, Mikey Garcia, all those guys. I would love to get in the ring with them. 130 pounds up to 147 pounds, I’ll step in the ring with any of them.”

That is a list of some of the top fighters in the world in either sport and even more so than McGregor, one person among that stands out to Garbrandt as the obvious next step for him after he dispatches Dillashaw at UFC 217: the UFC flyweight champion and a man many consider to be the best fighter in the history of the sport, Demetrious Johnson.

"I think it’s the fight to make after I demolish T.J., to go down to 125 pounds and become a two-weight world champion. . . That would be strictly business for me to go down there and do that, no ill will towards Demetrious . . . That just would be for my career and my legacy - and for him too. He needs a big fight. He needs someone [to fight].

“I can easily make 125 pounds. I don’t walk around too heavy and I think that would be a great fight . . . Dominick Cruz and T.J. can fight for an interim title, I'll go down to 125, and then beat up the winner of that. That's how I see it playing out."

Cody Garbrandt defends his UFC bantamweight title against T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 217 on Nov. 4 in Madison Square Garden.

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MUST-READ STORIES

Bock. Khabib Nurmagomedov says Kevin Lee fought “like chicken” at UFC 216.

Die. Darren Till issues a warning to Donald Cerrone about striking with him.

ABC. Heather Hardy has “no doubt” Conor McGregor could win a boxing title.

Easy. Roxanne Modafferi says TUF 26 coaches were “way less stressful” for contestants than Rousey and Tate.

Weight. Marc Goddard says adding more weight classes is “not the answer” to MMA weight-cutting.

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VIDEO STEW

Dana doing a lot of interviews lately.

DJ on how he’d fight Brock.

Got another clip of Woodley’s TMZ show.

Edmund on Conor.

Brad Tavares interview.

Free fight.

Chael thinks GSP shouldn’t be a dog.

Cyborg responds to Holly’s response.

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LISTEN UP

Heavy Hands. Previewing Donald Cerrone vs. Darren Till and UFC Gdansk.

The Jordan Breen Show. Discussing the return of GSP and what that means for MMA.

Bushido Talk. Breaking down the Conor McGregor lottery.

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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE

This is sickening.

So many things about this but mainly, do fighters who have actually fought for you.

Ngannou.

McCall-Horiguchi would be a great fight.

Let’s check in on Colby.

Tommy Toe Hold.

Congrats!

Interesting stats.

Joanna.

Better than Tyga but ouch.

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FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS

Niko Price (10-0, 1 NC) vs. Vicente Luque (11-6-1); UFC Sao Paulo, Oct. 28.

Aljamain Sterling (14-2) vs. Rani Yahya (24-9, 1 NC); UFC Fresno, Dec. 9.

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TODAY IN MMA HISTORY

2013: Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos completed their heavyweight trilogy with Velasquez stopping dos Santos in the fifth round of UFC 166, retaining his UFC heavyweight title. In the co-main event, Daniel Cormier competed for the final time as a heavyweight, taking a decision over Roy Nelson.

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FINAL THOUGHTS

Yesterday’s poll saw 56% of you call JBJ the biggest waste of talent in MMA and a whopping 34% call him the biggest waste of talent in all of sports. For the mathematically challenged, that’s 90% of you that think he’s the biggest waste of talent ever in MMA. Another dominant showing by Jones.

That’s all for today folks. Take it easy and see y’all tomorrow.

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EXIT POLL

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If you find something you'd like to see in the Morning Report, hit me up on Twitter @JedKMeshew and let me know about it. Also follow MMAFighting on Instagram, add us on Snapchat at MMA-Fighting, and like us on Facebook.