Derek Brunson is looking to ride his best stretch of success in years to a matchup with a top contender.
Arguably, Brunson already knocked off a future title challenger Kevin Holland, a fighter who dominated headlines in 2020 with five consecutive wins in seven months. The middleweights were paired up in Saturday’s UFC Vegas 22 main event and Brunson used his wrestling to earn a convincing decision.
The victory was light on the kinds of exciting moments that UFC producers might use in future highlight packages and part of that may have been due to Brunson’s own lack of enthusiasm over the matchup.