The new and improved “Blonde Brunson” believes he has more to offer against Israel Adesanya than Marvin Vettori.
Since notching up his fifth straight win against Darren Till earlier this month, Brunson has been campaigning for a rematch with Adesanya, the man responsible for his last loss back in 2018. In that encounter, “Stylebender” made light work of Brunson, earning a first-round TKO victory that announced his arrival as a serious title contender. Three fights later, in 2019, Israel became middleweight champ.
Brunson is now, however, a different fighter—and it’s not just the bleached blonde hair. The once divisional gatekeeper, now #4 ranked middleweight has bounced back into title contention with dominant wins over promising up and comers Kevin Holland and Edmen Shahbazyan. And his confidence is sky-high, with the 37-year-old recently claiming that “Blonde Brunson” beats Adesanya 10 out of 10 times.
Derek Brunson Critiques Vettori’s Performance Against Adesanya, Explains Why He’ll Do Better
With such self-belief, Brunson believes he should now be next in line for a title shot, and that when he gets the chance, he’ll fare better than Adesanya’s last victim, Marvin Vettori.
When Vettori faced Adesanya in June, many speculated that his wrestling would pose a challenge to the champ. Speaking to The Schmo, Brunson offered his analysis of why it fell short.
“Because Marvin’s a solid wrestler. He’s more of like a meathead wrestler. He (pushes) guys against the cage, get doubles, he’s really strong, you know? So he don’t really have any technical finishes and stuff like that,” said Brunson.
An accomplished wrestler himself, Brunson feels that the improvements he’s made to his game since the Adesanya loss will see him outperform Vettori.
“So in the first fight with Izzy, I got to a lot of spots that I know right now I would finish, just with making the changes, going out to Sanford, getting tougher training partners. So yeah, me and Marvin are two different guys when it comes to grappling and wrestling,” said Brunson.
What do you think? Can Derek Brunson defeat Israel Adesanya in a rematch?
