In five of his last six outings, Derek Brunson has taken on current champions, fast-rising contenders and living legends such as Anderson Silva, Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya and Ronaldo Souza (video here). But after losing his last two fights, Derek understands if he has to take a step back and regroup and face someone out of the top 10.
That’s where Elias Theodorou comes into play.
“This kid Elias Theodorou — I’ve stepped up and fought every guy in the division. I’ll step up and fight anyone, anywhere, any time, it does not matter to me but at some point if you’re not getting it done against the top five or top 10 guys, so you need to take a step back and fight somebody else,” Brunson explained to MMANYTT.
To hear Derek tell it, it’s an opportunity for Elias — who has been pretty popular as of late — to make a name for himself.
“You have a guy right there who has an opportunity. He’s on a three fight winning streak, he wants to propel his career, he wants to make more money. Are you willing to fight a top 10 guy who’s beaten [Lyoto] Machida, who’s set records in the UFC? Or are you going to sit back and beat a bunch of unranked guys?”
Elias was last seen taking out Eryk Anders at UFC 231 a few weeks ago, earning him his third straight win to hold on to his top 15 ranking. A win over Brunson — who suffered a first round knockout loss to Adesanya in his previous fight — could propel him into the top 10 and help him get over the hump to get to the next level.
“Tell the ring card dude let’s go ahead. If he wants to make real money or if he wants to keep making chump change? Let’s do it.”
Elias, of course, moonlights as a ring boy for Invicta FC when he’s not smashing heads inside the world’s greatest proving ground.