Derek Brunson disagrees with UFC president Dana White on what led to Kevin Holland’s defeat last night.
Brunson used effective takedowns and wrestling to earn a comfortable and somewhat drab unanimous decision victory over Holland in the UFC Vegas 22 headliner.
White notably stated his belief afterward that Holland — who was talking throughout the fight — may have mentally broke due to the magnitude of his first main event which led to even more talking than usual from the 28-year-old.
For Brunson, however, the reason for Holland’s defeat was simple.
“No. He just couldn’t stop the takedown,” Brunson said at the post-fight press conference. “It’s funny he kept giving me his hips, you know? He’s the kind of guy who is very explosive to like run in, but he’s long so he can get away with it at times. So he kept presenting his hips and he was there for the taking down.
“Dana White’s one of these guys, he’ll be upset with you. I’ll come out the next fight and knock a guy out and he’ll be happy again. So, it’s all good.”
Brunson: You’ve Got To Do Better Than That
The fight was more noteworthy for Holland’s talking, especially to Khabib Nurmagomedov who was cageside, while he also spoke to Brunson while he was on the bottom.
However, Brunson wasn’t impressed by any of Holland’s words and believes he needs to focus more on the actual fight next time.
“Come on, man: You’ve got to do better than that,” Brunson said. “That was pretty stupid. Work to get up out of positions. You’re talking the whole time. I was going to talk back to him during the fight, but I’m like, ‘This guy’s stupid. He’s stupid. He’s just laying here talking and not improving position, so I’ll just let him.’ I didn’t want to want to break his rhythm. Just let him keep doing his thing.
“… I think he’ll learn from this. He’s got to be a little bit more focused on the fight. He was in shape, I was in shape. He wanted to entertain between rounds, but this is the fight game. It’s good to have fun, but you should probably be a little bit more focused in the fight because I was looking for my moments to really put some good punches on him and get him out there.”
As for Brunson, he’s now on a four-fight winning streak and called for a fight with Paulo Costa in his post-fight interview.
It certainly makes plenty of sense and should be a much more entertaining matchup than what we saw last night.
