News Derek Brunson part ways with the UFC

[MDoza]

Umm Robert Whittaker?

Stylistically, he should struggle with wrestlers and have an easy time with strikers, so not hard to argue a win over an experienced wrestler like Brunson is more impressive than beating a striker like Whittaker (Whittaker has rounded out his game, but no one considers him a grappler).

 

[CC27]

he was basically a gatekeeper for upper end of the div but if he lost this that would have probably been it. Maybe he retired, pulled out and uFC and him just said go. He's been talking retirement, contract could have been up after this last fight so they just agreed to split.

 

[Vampire life]

I thought he was blonde

 

[Question]

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

LOL I forgot about that first one, dude absolutely beat the shit out of Shahbazyan good lord man.
Yeah that for sure got him on Dana's shit list.

He also sent in to lose to Till on that UK themed apex card in 2021, but Blonde Brunson beat up and subbed Till late in the fight.
Till was the only UK fighter to lose his fight on that card btw.

 

[StonedLemur]

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.

Weird that he would retire right before his last pay day sir.

 

[AL-Tappo McSnappo]

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

happy first fake retirement

 

[StewDogg11]

I assume he retired. He needs to after du Plessis nearly murdered him. I legitimately thought he might be dead.

 

[StewDogg11]

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

Highly doubtful considering Leben was only a small favorite in that fight.

 

[Bradillac]

He went on a nice run, but didn't manage to get back to the title fight. Now he's on a 2 fight skid with very little chance of getting to a title fight any time soon. At his age, it's either retirement or heading over to an org like PFL for one last chance of making some big money.

 

[leatherneck]

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

Izzys best win is Alex, then Whittaker.

Brunson isnt close.

 

[JosephTessaro]

I just read on MSN (through SB Nation) that Derek Brunson parted ways with the UFC?

I tried a search (Brunson) and didn't pull up anything, if old news my bad.

 

[JosephTessaro]

Was scheduled to fight Dolidze at MSG but the fight was out instead to fight Whittaker or Cannonier and now he is gone?

 

[Dana's Conscience]

It was getting hard to watch him. Hopefully we don't see him in BKFC.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

UFC fighters have the saddest retirement careers since they never make enough money to just disappear

From what I remember Brunson is actually pretty smart with his money. I'm sure I've seen him claim to be a millionaire before (not that that means what it used to)

 

[HaulParris]

All the best to him

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I think he was the last of the Strikeforce fighters? Def the last Strikeforce MW.... Actually Anthony Smith and Bobby Green.

Miesha is still around too.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

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

He was such a great underdog bet against Shahbazyan, I knew he wasn't ready for that step up in competition while still at Glendale. Bless Tarverdyan for being such an abysmal dog shit coach.

 

[ExitLUPin]

Miesha is still around too.

I thought she retired?

 

[Hellowhosthat]

I thought she retired?

She retired then unretired and hasn't retired again yet. She's still ranked.

 

[WoozyFailGuy]

New mythical fighter coming up: Bellator Brunson?