CHARLOTTE – Derek Brunson realizes his knockout loss to Ronaldo Souza at UFC on FOX 27 was a setback to his middleweight title aspirations, but he still believes he can reach gold.
Brunson (18-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) was stopped in the opening round by Souza (25-5 MMA, 8-2 UFC) in Saturday’s headliner, which took place at Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C., and aired on FOX following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass. It was a familiar feeling for “The One,” who has routinely fallen short in his biggest career opportunities.
The fight with Souza was a rematch of an August 2012 bout from the now-defunct Strikeforce. Brunson lost that contest by knockout in 41 seconds, and although it was disappointment again in the second meeting, he won’t get too low on his future prospects.
“(It’s) definitely not to the top (after this loss),” Brunson told MMAjunkie post-fight. “Definitely not to the top five or anything; I’m back to the drawing board. I don’t know. He might have a couple more years in the sport. I have a little more years than he has left in the sport. I can still get to that top spot.”
With any loss comes a natural sense of frustration, but Brunson is trying to harness that feeling into a learning opportunity. The fight was fairly competitive for the first few minutes, but then “Jacare” launched a head kick that broke Brunson’s defensive guard. He couldn’t recover from the blow, and Souza finished the job with punches at the 3:50 mark of Round 1.
Brunson believes his performance was going according to plan, and even though he felt protected from Souza’s kick, he has discovered that even that is not enough.
“Everything was going good; I was feeling good,” Brunson said. “I felt I had the speed advantage big time. I saw some (times) where I could have turned it a little more, but I really wanted to stick to my game plan and just be patient and take my time and not make mistakes out there. But I learned the hard way. Definitely have to be a little bit tighter out there as far as defending kicks. Even if I do think I’m seeing things well, just got to be a little bit tighter.
“I can’t blame nobody but myself,” he continued. “I look at the replay and, man, I cover up a little bit tighter, and we’re still in the fight. I felt really good in the fight, was doing well. I saw myself taking him out, but hey, it didn’t go my way. So it’s just back to the drawing board.”
Despite absorbing some damage in the fight, Brunson said he doesn’t intend to take much time off. He said he’ll be out of the gym for at least a week, but after that, it’s all about getting back in, shoring up the holes in his game, and booking the next fight.
“I know a lot of the matchups I’ve wanted, with the guys ahead of me, no one wanted to really give me those fights,” Brunson said. “It had to be the rematches and stuff like that. The super tough, well rounded, veteran guys and stuff like that. But I’m down to fight anybody. I’ve fought everybody. So it’s just back to the drawing board and keep improving and get that next fight lined up.”
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