{"id":221208,"date":"2017-02-04T16:01:48","date_gmt":"2017-02-05T00:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=221208"},"modified":"2017-02-14T09:35:43","modified_gmt":"2017-02-14T17:35:43","slug":"exclusive-derek-brunson-ready-make-waves-return-title-contention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-derek-brunson-ready-make-waves-return-title-contention\/","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE | Derek Brunson ready to “make waves”, return to title contention"},"content":{"rendered":"

At UFC 208, #8 ranked middleweight Derek Brunson will step into the Octagon with #7 ranked middleweight, former UFC middleweight kingpin, Anderson Silva<\/a>. The fight is one that has drawn the attention of MMA fans, who are eager to see Brunson and Silva step into the Octagon for a fight that has the stylistic makings of a thrilling scrap.<\/p>\n

Since signing with the promotion in 2012, Brunson has been on a tear, going 7-2 over the course of the past five years. In 2014, Brunson suffered the first defeat of his UFC career at the hands of Yoel Romero in a fight he was arguably winning. After out-striking Romero, and taking the Olympic wrestler down three times throughout the first two rounds, Brunson was TKOd in the third round. Fortunately for the All-American Wrestler, he bounced back in dominant fashion, going on a 5-fight win streak that saw him finish four of the wins in the very first round. On the cusp of a title shot in 2016, Brunson stepped into the Octagon with streaking middleweight Robbie Whittaker in a scrap that was promoted to the main event just weeks before the fight. The fight proved to be a thrilling one, however Brunson was TKOd in the first round<\/a>. While the top ranked middleweight has never made excuses for the loss, he admits that the experience of going from a 3-round fight to a 5-round fight threw him off:<\/p>\n

\u201cFighting in Melbourne, I like Melbourne, but that was ridiculous. It threw me off my training camp so bad. I had to leave pretty much 10 days early. I got there, I was tired, I didn\u2019t work out like the first two or three days, I just kind of walked around the city. My body wasn\u2019t up for working out, so it just threw me off. I wasn\u2019t as sharp as I\u2019d like to be. No excuses, but I definitely didn\u2019t like that. I learned from that, so I learned what it takes to do that big time, to fight overseas or whatever. But it was definitely a different experience that I wasn\u2019t used to, and had me off for sure.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, ahead of his fight with Silva, Derek Brunson hopes to return to title contention with a win over the former champ:<\/p>\n

\"Anderson<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion, I think middleweight is the best division in the UFC, in all of MMA. You got former champs, and just historical names, and one through fifteen, it\u2019s stacked. But a win over Anderson Silva, who is considered the best of all time by many people, is just going to give my name that much more name value.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I get the win over Anderson Silva, yeah everybody\u2019s going to be looking. That\u2019s the guy who set the bar for the sport, carried the sport for so long, now you have a new guy that\u2019s ready to make waves, and make a name for himself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ahead of the fight, UFC President Dana White has admitted that Silva is only one or two wins away from a middleweight title shot<\/a>. While Silva is looking to return to the win column and move one step closer to a title shot, Derek Brunson has other plans:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have nothing to do with that, I just know that, if he loses, he\u2019s definitely not going to be one or two away, so I\u2019m definitely going to take him out of the title talk and get my name back in the title talk. I was that guy that was, having finished Robert Whittaker in the first, had I would\u2019ve done that, I believe I would\u2019ve gotten the next title shot after Bisping and Romero. Either way I was one fight away, so just looking to put my name back in the picture.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, with White saying Silva is one or two wins away from a title shot, Derek Brunson knows he too could be thrown into the title mix with a win over Silva:<\/p>\n

\"Derek<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, for sure. Everybody always wants to play that card, everybody\u2019s always looking for a title shot, title shot equals more money. So of course, Anderson\u2019s focused on fighting for the title, getting it back, but also he knows what\u2019s up. He knows who is standing in front of him, what\u2019s at stake. So just like me, I\u2019m looking at it the same way he looking at it, which is, every fighter in that top 10 is one or two away from a title shot. Someone could get injured who has a title fight, boom you\u2019re right there.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com<\/a> on 2\/4\/2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At UFC 208, #8 ranked middleweight Derek Brunson will step into the Octagon with #7 ranked middleweight, former UFC middleweight kingpin, Anderson Silva. The fight is one that has drawn the attention of MMA fans, who are eager to see Brunson and Silva step into the Octagon for a fight that has the stylistic makings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":159631,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10098,10350,2674],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nEXCLUSIVE | Derek Brunson ready to "make waves", return to title contention | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"UFC middleweight Derek Brunson plans to return to title contention with a win over former UFC champion Anderson Silva at UFC 208.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/exclusive-interviews\/exclusive-derek-brunson-ready-make-waves-return-title-contention\/\" \/>\n<meta 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