Brunson Talks UFC, Dana White Ahead Of PFL Debut

Derek Brunson will be making a fresh start this weekend when he makes his Professional Fighters League (PFL) debut after an 11-year career under the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) banner. It was a bittersweet and fairly unexpected departure from the promotion earlier this year, but Brunson admits he “needed a change.”

Brunson has been one of the best middleweights in the world over the past 10 years. While his efforts never resulted in a UFC title shot he came awfully close. He fought the best of the best along the way, including Anderson Silva, Israel Adesanya, Robert Whittaker, Yoel Romero, and Lyoto Machida. Brunson had two five-fight win streaks throughout his UFC tenure, but ended his stint with back-to-back losses to Jared Cannonier and Dricus Du Plessis.

Despite his storied UFC career and current middleweight ranking, Brunson was let go by the promotion just a few months ago. Brunson sees it as perfect timing and a chance to mix things up.

“I think it was at the time that we both went our separate ways,” Brunson told MMA Fighting. “I had a good run there but I guess where I’m at in my career, at my age, some of the things that go on there didn’t make sense for me.

“It was just tough to get up for these fights, for all these top guys. It was just perfect time for both of us to move on.”

It didn’t take Brunson long to ink a deal with PFL following his UFC departure. His release was brought up to UFC president Dana White during a press conference and a few comments were made, but Brunson revealed White contacted him after the matter to clear the air.

“Somebody asked Dana [White] something about me at the last card and Dana called me right after,” Brunson revealed. “He’s like ‘I didn’t hear what they said, it could have come across as weird but I wanted to let you know I wasn’t trying to slight you or anything like that.’ It was no animosity, no ill will.

“I put in some hard work in the UFC. I don’t think what I’ve done can be duplicated. The UFC is a lot different from when I first joined. Only the baddest guys fought in the UFC. Now the UFC, they’re signing a lot of guys so they can build more guys up. It’s just bigger so they’ve got a lot more guys.”

In the end, Brunson struck a deal with PFL and found a new home to call his own. It has seemingly reinvigorated the 39-year-old veteran and gives him new motivation heading into his debut at PFL 10 on Saturday night.

“I needed a change, a switch,” Brunson said. “Just being in PFL, it’s a new opportunity, a new goal. I don’t have to lobby for anything. I just have go out there and win fights. That’s my main focus right now.

“I was ranked top 10 by all major sites and I was ranked No. 7 or 8 in the UFC rankings so I definitely have a lot of value. So finding a different place wasn’t going to be an issue. I was even thinking about bare-knuckle. I was talking with those guys and we were close to striking a deal even before PFL came along. I was just looking for a new adventure, a new motivation. I enjoy competing. It’s not about the money for me. It’s about competing. I love evolving and working on things and trying to be a better version of myself.”