Derek Brunson wanted to make sure he didn’t make a costly mistake.
Last night (May 4), Brunson went one-on-one with Elias Theodorou. The bout served as UFC Ottawa’s co-main event. Brunson was awarded the unanimous decision after the fight went the distance.
Brunson Talks Being Cautious With Slam
In the third round, Brunson lifted Theodorou and slammed him to the canvas (via UFC’s Twitter account):
Speaking to reporters after the bout, Brunson admitted that he used caution when finishing the slam (via MMAFighting.com):
“That was my exact thought. I picked him up, I locked my hands, I was like, oh, that kid—I think it was Jarred Brooks or something like that—he went, he swung, he dunked him and knocked himself out. I was like, if I knock myself out, it’s gonna be real bad. So I swung his legs and I swam back over and I got north-south position. But yeah, I wanted to make sure I didn’t knock myself out. That wouldn’t look good. I would have made ‘Sportscenter Not Top 10’ or whatever. That would have been bad.”
Jarred Brooks made headlines for all the wrong reasons following his June 2018 bout with Jose “Shorty” Torres. Brooks went for a slam, but ended up hurting himself when his head bounced off the canvas. Torres finished him off with punches.
