Long-time UFC fighter Derek Brunson has unexpectedly parted ways with the promotion despite actually having a fight against Roman Dolidze booked for UFC 295 in November.
“Derek Brunson has been under the UFC umbrella for 11 years,” Brunson’s manager Ali Abdelaziz said in a statement. “He had an amazing career there. The last seven years he’s been in the top 10 rankings. The UFC was amazing to him there, helped shape who he is today and I’m very grateful for the opportunity he was given. He has to move on and looking forward to what comes next for him.”
So It doesn’t appear that Brunson has any plans to retire though despite approaching his 40th birthday at the turn of the year, and instead he’s aiming high for his next fight as he’s just called out Jake Paul on social media.
“JAKE . JAKE . JAKE @jakepaul,” Brunson wrote on Twitter alongside an old quote from Paul dating back to 2021 in which he wrote, “Dana admitted this morning that I would destroy “170” pound Masvidal…So Dana will you give Brunson permission to make some real money? Dana?”
Paul had brought up his name at that stage because Brunson had stated that he’d be willing to fight him. However, at that time the 39-year-old Brunson was on a five-fight winning streak, beating the likes of Kevin Holland and Darren Till along the way.
However, since then he’s suffered two losses in a row, having been KO’d by Jared Cannonier early in 2022 and then TKO’d by Dricus du Plessis at UFC 285 in March of this year.
And Unfortunately for Brunson, judging from the respnse to his new call-out it seems like few fans are in a hurry to see Brunson fights Paul next.
Meanwhile, at this stage Brunson hasn’t commented on the specific reasons why he’s no longer a UFC fighter, and it’s not clear if it was his decision or theirs to part ways.
