Derek Brunson Ready to show the New Him and Earn Title Shot off Jacare Victory

UFC on Fox 27 in Charlotte, North Carolina will be the UFC’s first event in the state since 2010 and their fourth ever. Headlining will be the hometown top Middleweight contender, Derek Brunson when he takes on the perennial top five 185er, Jacare Souza in a rematch from their 2012 Strikeforce meeting. Jacare won the fight in just forty-one seconds as he had the very clear experience advantage. Now things are a bit more evened out and Brunson knows it. Brunson discussed the rematch and what he wants to happen after in an interview with Clture.

“When I fought him before, I was fresh out of college, right when I first started fighting. So I came in as a straight wrestler and it takes a long time to develop your boxing skills, your muay thai skills, to not over-extend yourself when you punch, but actually being able to throw a punch and not leave yourself in danger is a key point. I’m a different fighter now. I’ve been able to knock guys out clean here recently because I’ve been able to find that mix, to find that happy medium.

Now that George St-Pierre has vacated the middleweight title, in February they’re having Luke Rockhold fight Robert Whittaker, the guy who was the former champ before GSP vacated. They’re fighting down in Australia. So this is definitely a good fight for me to let the UFC know that I deserve that next title shot after that,” Brunson concluded.

Currently riding a two-fight win streak over the likes of Dan Kelly and former UFC Light Heavyweight champion, Lyoto Machida, Brunson will look to add Jacare to that streak while Jacare looks to re-start one of his own. The Brazilian’s last fight came at UFC on Fox 24 back in April when he lost to the current champion, Robert Whittaker. The loss snapped a two-fight winning streak for “the Alligator”, a streak that very well could have been as high as eleven.

UFC on Fox 27 takes place on January 27. Who will come out the winner this time around?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 1/9/2018.