The Pact

A UFC Champion, a Boy with Cancer, and their Promise to Win the Ultimate Battle

By: Cody Garbrandt, Mark Dagostino

Narrated by: Dave Hoffman

A UFC champion and a boy with leukemia, in the fight of their lives.

Cody Garbrandt dreamed of being a UFC champion. In his darkest moments, when those dreams were dashed, he dug deep with the help of an unlikely friend—five-year-old Maddux Maple, a local hometown fan with leukemia. They made a pact: Cody would be in the UFC and win the championship, and Maddux would beat cancer.

Read their moving story in Cody’s new book, The Pact, and go behind the scenes into Cody’s training and how he made his dreams come true.

Cody Garbrandt grew up in a rough town in the Central Appalachian region of Ohio, surrounded by a longstanding culture of fighting—and drugs. Raised in this environment by a single mom (his dad left him at the young age of three to reside in the Ohio State Penitentiary), Cody grew up fighting, and he grew up wild. His future seemed predestined to end in the coal mines, or in prison.

Thankfully, Cody had visions of something more. His American Dream? Mixed Martial Arts. But a path to success wasn’t clear. He spent as much time fighting in the streets as he did in the gym—one bad decision away from losing everything. Then, at age 20, Cody’s brother introduced him to five-year old Maddux Maple. Maddux was deathly ill with leukemia, his survival by no means assured. A unique friendship developed as they made a promise to each other: Maddux would beat cancer, and Cody would make it to the UFC and become world champion.

Through five long years of pain and hardship, they both persevered; Cody, through the agony and sacrifices of fighting his way to the top, and Maddux through the horrors of chemotherapy. They loved and supported each other. They served as each other’s inspiration. And in December 2016, they made good on their pact: Cody won his UFC Championship belt, which he promptly presented to Maddux—the boy who had beaten cancer into remission.

Critic reviews

Publishers Weekly Review: The Pact - Cody Garbrandt In this magnetic memoir, Garbrandt, former UFC bantamweight champion, chronicles how Maddux Maple, a five-year-old boy diagnosed with cancer, inspired him to dedicate himself to his fighting career and God. Garbrandt grew up in the working-class town of Uhrichsville, Ohio, and his childhood was dominated by conflict and violence. In grade school, he remembers, he was in a fight when the other boy's parole officer suddenly showed up, but instead of intervening, the officer watched. After Garbrandt's born-again uncle was released from prison and took Garbrandt under his wing, Garbrandt became serious about wrestling. By his early 20s, he was a talented wrestler and occasionally took on a mixed martial arts fight but kept and getting in trouble. Then, Garbrandt's brother learned of Maple's remarkable story on Facebook; Garbrandt met the boy and had an epiphany about how the influential people in his life had been leading him to God. In unadorned prose, Garbrandt candidly explains how this revelation allowed him to let go of past anger and provided the focus necessary for finally accomplishing his goal of becoming UFC champion. With brutal scenes of violence studded with moments of grace and revelation, Garbrandt's passionate story will appeal mainly to fans of mixed martial arts. (May) Reviewed on 03/23/2018 | Release date: 05/01/2018 | Details and amp; Permalink

Loved this story

Loved this story, the narrator was good. Very easy to listen to! This is one you could definitely listen to more than once

Good story. Cody is a very driven young man.

This is a cool story about a young man chasing his dream and not letting anything get in his way. Glad I read it.

INSPIRING!!!

being able to hear the rise of Cody was inspiring and engaging. Def recommend

Best book I’ve ever listened to

This book is awesome it is such a great story and motivational I started listening to it and got hooked and I actually learned a lot of stuff from this book

My favorite book

Love to read about the hidden side of his UFC and MMA career. My favorite book