Brunson last fought in February, when he suffered a brutal second-round TKO loss to Jared Cannonier. In the aftermath of the event, Brunson claimed that he would fight once more before retiring from the sport.
The veteran was scheduled to clash with Swedish middleweight Jack “The Joker” Hermansson on December 3. However, Brunson was forced to pull out of the fight on short notice and was replaced by Roman Dolidze.
“The Joker” said he still would like the fight against Brunson to happen further down the road.
Derek Brunson holds the No. 5 spot in the rankings
Derek Brunson made his promotional debut back in December 2012 with a unanimous decision win over Chris Leben. Going into 2023, he’s is currently ranked No. 5 in the stacked middleweight division.
Check out the rankings below!
Middleweight champion: Alex Pereira
1. Israel Adesanya
2. Robert Whittaker
3. Jared Cannonier
4. Marvin Vettori
5. Derek Brunson
6. Paulo Costa
7. Sean Strickland
8. Roman Dolidze
9. Jack Hermansson
10. Dricus Du Plessis
11. Andre Muniz
12. Nassourdine Imavov
13. Kelvin Gastelum
14. Chris Curtis
15. Darren Till