Not-Respected Brunson Wants Till Or Hermansson

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Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight veteran Derek Brunson is the talk of the mixed martial arts (MMA) town after his third-round technical knockout victory over 185-pound prodigy Edmen Shahbazyan in the UFC Vegas 5 main event last weekend on ESPN+.

A performance that regrettable did not land him a post-fight bonus.

“No POTN BONUS,” Brunson wrote on Twitter. “Somebody big mad.”

Brunson’s upset win over Shahbazyan took a backseat to standout performances from Vicente Luque and Jennifer Maia, who captured finishes of their own against Randy Brown and Joanne Calderwood, respectively.

Perhaps UFC President Dana White was “big mad” for losing his middleweight marketing machine.

“I’m not given enough respect in this division,” Brunson said after the fight (via MMA Junkie). “I’m okay with earning it. There have been fights where I’ve had the flu. I went to the doctor to nurse myself back to health – and five days later to fight. We had a hurricane in North Carolina, and I was home with the family, making sure everything was okay. I had to fight 10 days after that when I wasn’t training for two weeks. Nobody cares about those excuses. But whenever I have a fight, yes, I want to prepare properly and get a full camp in with the guys down there with Henri Hooft and Sanford MMA to get me ready for these big fights.”

Speaking of big fights, Brunson is looking to capitalize on his momentum by throwing down against Top 10 contenders Darren Till and Jack Hermansson, though it would stand to reason Till-Hermansson is the more attractive fight.

“Hermanson or Till next sounds good to me,” Brunson said. “Both ranked ahead of me and no fight scheduled!”

Brunson (21-7) is currently ranked No. 8 behind Hermansson (No. 4) and Till (No. 6).