News Derek Brunson part ways with the UFC

[KazDibiase]

Derek Brunson and UFC part ways, fight with Roman Dolidze scrapped

Photo by Mike Roach/Zuffa LLC

Derek Brunson is not only out of his UFC 295 fight against Roman Dolidze, he’s also out of the UFC entirely.

The veteran middleweight contender and the promotion have parted ways following an 11-year, 21-fight run, MMA Fighting confirmed with sources close to the situation on Thursday.

Brunson, 39, was expected to face Dolidze in a matchup of ranked contenders on Nov. 11 at Madison Square Garden at UFC 295, however Dolidze tweeted Wednesday that Brunson was out of the bout and instead called to fight either Robert Whittaker or Jared Cannonier.

“No matter what happened, wish you good luck in your next journey,” Dolidze added Thursday following a post by the automated UFC Roster Watch account regarding Brunson’s exit.

Brunson (23-9) has been an active contender in the UFC’s 185-pound division since joining the promotion in 2012 following the dissolution of Strikeforce. The North Carolina native racked up a 14-7 record in the octagon, highlighted by two separate five-fight win streaks that carried him to the brink of title contention.

Over that time, Brunson fought a who’s who of top middleweights, taking on the likes of Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya, Whittaker, Lyoto Machida, Yoel Romero, Ronaldo Souza, Cannonier, and Dricus Du Plessis, among others.

At the time of his UFC exit, Brunson was the No. 8 ranked middleweight in the promotion’s media-generated rankings.

He is currently MMA Fighting’s No. 11 ranked middleweight in the world.

Guilherme Cruz and Damon Martin contributed to this report.




https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/9/...ys-with-ufc-fight-with-roman-dolidze-scrapped

 

[Lights Out 101]

I definitely can see the UFC being petty enough to cut him after pulling out of the Dolidze fight. He's never really been in their good books.

 

[Baal]

Izzy's best win cut from the UFC

What a shame

 

[Dorkman]

Umm what? Isn’t he scheduled against dolidze on 295?

 

[Phisher]

I definitely can see the UFC being petty enough to cut him after pulling out of the Dolidze fight. He's never really been in their good books.

Dana probably never got over him beating Leben when he was brought in to get KO'd on short notice.

 

[AmbassadorFright]

 

[GluttonforPunishment]

Izzy's best win cut from the UFC

What a shame

Umm Robert Whittaker?

 

[GluttonforPunishment]

He on that Phil Davis regimen?

 

[Substance Abuse]

He could have retired. He's been talking about it for a long time. We need more information before we pull out our jump to conclusions mat.

 

[Phisher]

Umm what? Isn’t he scheduled against dolidze on 295?

 

[CalmLlama]

Umm what? Isn’t he scheduled against dolidze on 295?

He was but pulled out. I think They’re currently looking for a replacement. But Roman called out rob or Jared for the end of the year

 

[octagonation]

Why??

Don't tell me they cut him based on dropping out of that Dolidze fight because if they did that then they should have cut the likes of Colby, Costa long time ago

 

[WokeWarrior]

 

[Lights Out 101]

Dana probably never got over him beating Leben when he was brought in to get KO'd on short notice.

Or derailing the Shahbazyan and Holland hype trains when they were still a thing around here LOL.

 

[surgeyou1]

 

[Dorkman]

View attachment 1001780

I mean… probably for the best that fight isn’t happening. I foresaw dolidze smashing him. But sucks he’s having his long run ended like this

 

[Gabe]

I thought he had a fight booked?

 

[FriskyRandy]

Wtf?

 

[GrantB13]

I assumed he retired a little bit ago.

 

[Gamer007]

Damn, I hope he has a nice amount of money saved & invested.

Dude was a very good fighter and beat some big names.

I checked the rankings yesterday and I think he was the #8 ranked MW, it does puzzle me why you would let him go when he's a pretty decent name for cards.