Derek Brunson has now signed with the PFL and will compete in their light-heavyweight tournament after splitting from the UFC.
During his decade-long UFC career, Brunson spent a long time hanging around the middleweight top-15 and gained some valuable wins while doing so. The 39-year-old defeated the likes of Lyoto Machida, Uriah Hall and Kevin Holland during his tenure, but his time with the promotion is now over.
Brunson had been booked to face Roman Dolidze in November, but out of the blue it was announced that Brunson was out of the but and shortly after it was announced that he had parted ways with the UFC.
Derek Brunson signs with PFL
It was unclear why the fight had fallen through, or what Brunson would do next. Some speculated that the American would retire but it wouldn’t take long for some big news to drop.
Talking with The Schmo, Brunson’s manager Ali Abdelaziz announced that he had signed with the PFL and would be moving up to 205lbs to fight in the $1 million light-heavyweight tournament.
“Derek Brunson, he signed with PFL, he’s a PFL fighter,” Abdelaziz told The Schmo. “He’s gonna fight before the end of the year. He did a lot for the UFC. UFC did a lot for him. He had a great career, crazy schedule, fought (Robert) Whittaker, fought (Israel) Adesanya, fought Kevin Holland, fought all those guys, Darren Till. Now he’s looking to make his run at the light heavyweight title for PFL.” (H/T BJPenn.com)
Shortly after, Brunson took to social media to make his own announcement.
New kid on the block . BLONDE BRUNSON 2.0
. Million dollar tournament incoming ! I started focusing more on my road work for the first time in my career . Only up ! #PFL @PFLMMA pic.twitter.com/Jj8L36pCSF
— Derek Brunson (@DerekBrunson) October 5, 2023
. Million dollar tournament incoming ! I started focusing more on my road work for the first time in my career . Only up !
The PFL move is a fantastic opportunity for Brunson to make one last run and potentially collect a world title, along with a big payday, before officially calling it a career. it was just announced that Brunson would make his promotional debut at middleweight against Ray Cooper III on November 24.
How will Derek Brunson do in the PFL?