Elias Theodorou (and many others) is expecting a wild, reckless, desperate man to confront him in the the co-main event of UFC Ottawa, but Derek Brunson is planning on arriving as a different fighter with an entirely revamped approach. It took some major setbacks and some humbling losses due to mental lapses and impatience, but Derek Brunson is prepared to show fans who are expecting a loose cannon to be controlled by a cage general that he is capable of taking command of his weaponry and the war: (transcript via MMA Junkie):
“I can look back on some of my fights, (and) even the good ones where I got the knockout, I thought, ‘Ah, I probably should have toned it down a little bit,’” Brunson told reporters at a media day for his co-feature bout at UFC on ESPN+ 9 at Canadian Tire Centre “Sometimes, I get in the way of my own self,” he said. “Like, I know by far I’m a better grappler than him. So going into the fight, my previous fights, I just got too greedy with the hands. I’m just headhunting, trying to knock people out.”
This isn’t the first time Derek Brunson has vowed to change his fighting style to a more methodical and measured approach, and his last fight against Israel Adesanya may have been the final wakeup call to finally heed his own warnings on a permanent basis:
“I said in (the Adesanya) fight, I’m not going to do that. I’m going to wrestle, wrestle, wrestle. And I’m shooting without any setup of the hands, and I shoot in one time, and he catches me with a knee. I was a little dazed, and I was like, ‘C’mon, let’s fight.’”
Derek Brunson is expecting his opponent at UFC Ottawa, Elias Theodorou, to give him the perfect opportunity to practice his new approach of taking his time and not rushing, because Brunson expects Theodorou to do the exact same thing:
“He’s not really great at any one thing, but he’s pretty solid at everything,” Brunson said. “He’s not going to rush the fight. He’s going to take his time and pick up the fight via the scoring system.”
Do you believe Derek Brunson will take a more methodical approach to his UFC Ottawa fight against Elias Theodorou? And will he get the victory?
