UFC Champion Makes 11-Year-Old Cancer Survivor's Fight His Own
*By Conor White*
Cody Garbrandt won the biggest fight of his life in December 2016 when he became the UFC Bantamweight champion.
He was motivated, in part, by the fight his young friend Maddux Maple showed against leukemia.
"He's had such an impact on me," Maple, 11, said of Garbrandt. "He helped me go through cancer, the rough time I was going through, and I don't know what I would do without him."
Garbrandt and Maple met in 2011, when Maple was just five years old and ravaged by the effects of chemotherapy. Garbrandt, who hadn't been signed by the UFC yet, promised Maple he would win a UFC championship belt if Maple beat cancer.
In 2015, Maple's leukemia went into remission.
"I was battling my own demons, and he helped me with a lot of those," Garbrandt said Tuesday in an interview with Cheddar. "Early on, with the decision to chase history, he helped me chase this goal and stay motivated and stay focused on the task at hand and with his battle and what he was able to do, he had a big impact on my life and a was a huge motivating factor in making it to the top."
Garbrandt is telling his and Maple's story in the new book, "The Pact".
With the pact completed and his cancer in remission, is Maddux Maple planning to follow his friend into the octagon?
"No, I actually want to be a childhood cancer doctor," Maple said. "That's what I went through, so I went to help people who go through what I went through."
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/the-fight-of-their-lives).
Bronny James, son of NBA superstar LeBron James, was hospitalized after going into cardiac arrest while participating in a practice at Southern California on Monday, a family spokesman said Tuesday.
The hazing scandal at Northwestern University has widened to include a volleyball player who on Monday became the first female athlete to sue the university over allegations she was retaliated against for reporting mistreatment and a new lawsuit by former Northwestern quarterback Lloyd Yates.
Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines will miss the season after he sustained a knee injury when he was struck by a jet ski, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Monday.
A new documentary on Stephen Curry provides an inside look at how the basketball legend was shaped by his upbringing. Curry spoke with Cheddar News about the new film.
Danish rider Jonas Vingegaard has won the Tour de France for a second straight year as cycling’s most storied race finished on the famed Champs-Élysées.
About twice as many people in the U.S. watched the women's soccer team in the first round of the World Cup compared to the first round of 2017's tournament.
