The final one of these that I'll be doing for UFC 271 is for Jared Cannonier vs Derek Brunson. This one will probably be the shortest of them as things are a little more straight forward for Cannonier. Once this fight was up, that's when I started paying attention in a little more detail. In terms of stakes, this was the first fight that got really serious and it delivered. "Not to give myself the old Barry Horowitz", but this card was the best my previews have ever been and this one was pretty good. I pretty much touched on everything that happened. We all knew the main key was going to be Brunson's ability to consistently get the fight to the ground. If he couldn't, it seemed likely that Cannonier would be able to find a finish given his power and the way Brunson's chin had been trending. I'll talk more about their individual performances in their sections, so I'll stop wasting time and real estate.
Jared Cannonier was able to do what he needed to do for stretches in this fight and it was able to get him the win. Brunson was able to control the fight for a lot of the early going, but with little damage. Cannonier's takedown defense does still need some work as we saw him taken down on multiple occasions, but his ground game did look pretty solid. He did a pretty good job to limit what Brunson could do with his takedowns. Brunson landed limited ground and pound and the late submission attempt didn't have enough time to be finished. Cannonier was taken down again early in the second round, but he was able to get back up and really go to work. For someone who used to fight at heavyweight, Cannonier's cardio was in a great spot and that is ultimately what won him the fight. Brunson tired out after all of the grappling and he looked really gassed after the fight got back to the feet. It only took a few solid connections from Cannonier's strikes and the fight seemed to be on it's way to ending. A few more good shots from Cannonier had Brunson really wobbly and then he finally went down. The elbows at the end were devastating and would have finished basically anyone. It wasn't a shutout or a dominant win by Cannonier, but it was definitely impressive. His cardio looked great and he was as powerful as ever. He didn't use his kicks as much as usual, but he was still able to mix them in at times, which he'll need to do more of going forward. Brunson was taking him down early before he gassed out, which is my main area of concern going forward for Cannonier, but he won't need that takedown defense in his next fight.
Speaking of that next fight, this is simple and I gave it away a couple of days ago. He's going to be fighting Israel Adesanya next for a chance at the middleweight championship. The battle for the next title shot was between Sean Strickland and whoever won this fight and Cannonier was able to put a stamp on it. Strickland probably needed to do something a little more dramatic in order to skip the line, which he didn't do. A big TKO for Cannonier was that statement type of win that the UFC likes to see in a number one contender fight. Cannonier had the more impressive win, on a bigger stage, against a higher ranked opponent who was on a great streak. He's earned the fight and I would be stunned if it went to anyone else.
It is really hard not to feel for Derek Brunson. This was, in all likelihood, the final run of his career. He's said that his next fight will be his last, but we know how MMA retirements go. I think what makes things hard to swallow is that things were going good until they weren't. He definitely won the first round. I don't know what happened, but it was clear once the fight got back to the feet in the second that something was off. He looked wobbly before he even started getting hit. Brunson has done a ton of wrestling during his win streak. He took down Edmen Shahbazyan, Kevin Holland, and Darren Till over and over again without much issue. He got to the midpoint of this fight and just had nothing left. I'm not sure why his cardio failed him, but that is really what cost him. Brunson's chin has been a little shaky at times, even during the win streak, and that is when he has gas left in the tank. After Cannonier started touching him, it felt pretty obvious where the fight was going. It is still hard to think about. If he had the gas to keep going, it looked like his skills were in the right spot to win the fight. His takedowns were working and the power in his strikes seemed to be there too. For whatever reason, he gassed out really bad and there was just no way that he was going to be able to take that fight to a decision. According to him, he'll have one more fight to bounce back, so he won't walk away on that performance.
This is a weird situation. If it really is going to be Derek Brunson's last fight, we don't have to follow any rules if we don't want to. There's not really any reason that he has to get any opponent next. The UFC isn't likely to have him fight up in the rankings because there's no benefit to them for him to do so. The worst situation for them would be for him to fight someone higher than him, win, then walk away. This takes out a potential contender without building up a new one. They're going to want to try and build someone off of his name, which is unfortunate, but that is just sort of how this sport goes. Under normal circumstances, a Brunson vs Robert Whittaker fight would almost make itself. I still think it is possible and I don't hate the idea, but it doesn't really excitement me either. I assume that the UFC will want Brunson to fight Sean Strickland next and I guess I'm ok with that. I do view that as being the most likely scenario for him. It does feel a little weird though. He could also get matched up with Jack Hermansson or Kelvin Gastelum. Gastelum is on the schedule for April 9, so that would mean a longer time off for Blonde Brunson, but I don't see what the rush would be. There's still just something that doesn't quite feel right about any of these. Just giving Brunson the next logical fighter closest to him in the rankings who's on a similar streak doesn't speak "retirement fight" to me. The retirement fight that Roxanne Modafferi got where she got to fight maybe the brightest prospect the division has on her way out felt much more special. There was a feel of a passing of the torch type of moment. Having Brunson go out fighting a proven stud like Robert Whittaker or up and down fighters who have stagnated in the 6-10 range in the rankings doesn't have that feeling at all. Sean Strickland is possible, but given that we just saw him beat Hermansson, I don't think anyone is really pushing for him to fight Brunson as that presents a lot of similar challenges. One possibility is that he could get Nassourdine Imavov next. Imavov would have to get past Gastelum on April 9, but that is exactly the type of matchup that the UFC would want to make if they could.
I'm here to propose to you a completely different idea though. There really isn't a blatantly obvious prospect to build up. In that case, then maybe we should opt to find another older fighter for Brunson to retire against. I think we should see Derek Brunson's final fight come against Luke Rockhold. Rockhold was supposed to return to middleweight against Sean Strickland in November of 2021, but withdrew due to a back injury. I really don't think there's any downside to this fight. The buildup would be fun and it would give Brunson someone who is perceived to be on his level. Brunson would be in a position to finish off his career against a former champion. With a win, Rockhold would inject himself right back into the title conversation, but with no risk on the UFC's part. If Rockhold loses, then it doesn't remove a contender because Rockhold isn't ranked anyways. I don't see why anyone involved would turn down this fight. If the UFC see's this, please take my idea. I think it is almost a perfect matchup. Make it happen.
What do you guys think? What did you make of Jared Cannonier's peformance? He's next for the title right? What about Derek Brunson? What should he do with the final fight of his career? Leave any and all thoughts below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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