The 38-year-old saw his winning streak end at five at UFC 271.
Derek Brunson was seemingly seconds away from a massive win over Jared Cannonier at UFC 271. Unfortunately for him, the horn sounded to end round one and it was all downhill from there.
Seemingly exhausted and unable to keep up with his own furious and unrelenting pace, Brunson was hurt and eventually knocked out by Cannonier late in round two, with Derek’s corner also throwing in the towel simultaneously to the referee’s stoppage. The loss brought an end to Brunson’s five-fight winning streak, and most likely decided who will get the next crack at Israel Adesanya’s belt.
Brunson released a short statement on Twitter, and with his wording it looks like he’ll fight just once more and then call it a career.
Made a title push . Number 3 vs 4 in the world . I came up short . Life lessons . Im all good , sad but life will give you theses moments . I’ll pick myself up for one more fight . Blessings all
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) February 13, 2022
“Made a title push,” Brunson wrote. “Number 3 vs 4 in the world. I came up short. Life lessons. I’m all good, sad but life will give you theses [sic] moments. I’ll pick myself up for one more fight. Blessings all.”
The 38-year-old Brunson (23-8) began his UFC career a terrific 7-1, and even his 2-4 stretch after that saw him lose to Robert Whittaker, Anderson Silva (quite controversially), Jacare Souza, and Israel Adesanya. It’s usually taken elite competition to beat him and that holds up today, all while he’s bested the likes of Darren Till, Edmen Shahbazyan, Kevin Holland, Lyoto Machida, and Uriah Hall. If he is intending to hang up the gloves after his next fight, he’s had a hell of a career even if it didn’t lead to a UFC title shot.