Derek Brunson is confident he would defeat Israel Adesanya in a potential rematch.
Brunson and Adesanya first met at UFC 230 in a fight that was supposed to be a test for Adesanya as he was facing a legit wrestler. However, “The Last Stylebender” schooled on him and scored a first-round TKO.
Since then, however, Brunson has gone on a five-fight winning streak and is coming off a submission win over Darren Till. With that, he now wants the rematch with Adesanya and knows he will shock the world.
“I was just thinking how bad I want that fight, how I know I can get the job done,” Brunson told MMA Junkie on Tuesday. “Shock everybody, surprise everybody. I’m so good at going in somebody’s backyard and just silencing the crowd. I’m not an A-hole with it, but I’m going to go enjoy the moment. That’s like the perfect scenario is fight Izzy in his backyard, avenge the loss, take the title for all the marbles. That would be lit.”
Part of the reason why Derek Brunson is confident he will dethrone Adesanya is due to the fact he has changed camps and knows he’s better. With that, he wants the chance to right the wrong and defeat the champ.
“It’s all purely competitive,” Brunson said. “I want to make him eat his words. I want to give him a nickname that’s going to stick with him also. I think this could be one of the biggest fights in UFC middleweight history. I think the action is going to be there. I’m going to be up for that fight. I’ll put in a great training camp, the buildup will be great. I think it has a lot of potential.
“I would definitely like to fight Izzy again. I just know that fight – it left a sour taste in my mouth,” Brunson continued. “It wasn’t a good representation of myself. Izzy has a lot of hype, a lot of momentum. So I would like to cool that.”
Although Brunson wants the rematch with Adesanya, it’s likely Robert Whittaker will get the next title shot. After that, it’s uncertain if Brunson would be next.
