Derek Brunson returns to the octagon a week from Saturday at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, NY. His opponent that night? A candidate for the “greatest of all time” moniker in legendary former middleweight champion Anderson Silva. It’s no easy match-up for Brunson, who enters the night coming off a loss to Robert Whittaker this past November. Prior to that, the 8th ranked Brunson had run up a five fight win streak — but the Whittaker loss was seen by many as the downside of Brunson’s “throw caution to the wind” style.
When asked at today’s UFC 208 media call how he would deal with the dangerous counterstriking of “The Spider,” Brunson agreed he’d been a little too aggressive at times in recent fights — but still feels he has what it takes to bring the fight to Silva. In his defense, he brought up his prior fight with another dangerous striker – Uriah Hall.
I pretty much fell in love with trying to knock people out really quick instead of letting the fight develop. Anderson is a great counterstriker, but I’m pretty fast, if you look at my previous fight, I wouldn’t say I was as reckless. I went in to finish and I definitely knocked [the guy] out. Uriah Hall is on the level of Anderson Silva’s striking, I’m not saying better or less then, but another striker and I was able to knock him out by moving forward.
For his part, Silva called the bout with Brunson “a great challenge” at this point in his career. Silva most recently fought at UFC 200, losing a decision in a non-title bout against light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier on just two day’s notice.
UFC 208 takes place at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, NY Saturday, February 11. In the main event, Holly Holm meets Germaine de Randamie for the inaugural UFC featherweight championship.
