Derek Brunson Explains Luke Rockhold Call Out

Derek Brunson picked up a first round knockout victory over former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida in the main event of UFC Fight Night Sao Paulo.

The victorious Brunson called out former UFC Middleweight Champion Luke Rockhold for his next opponent because he believes a win over Rockhold gets him a title shot.

“For sure, a win over Rockhold would definitely get me next to the title shot,” Brunson said at the post-show press conference. “The media sleeps on me a lot, but what I’ve done in the UFC, what I’ve done over my career – I had a controversial decision over Anderson, let’s say I get that win, that takes away a loss. Romero, I was beating him two rounds to zero, I was dominating the whole fight. He was able to catch me with a punch with about a minute left. If I would have just danced around for a minute, I would have got that win. Whittaker, I touched him a lot, he touched me a lot, I rocked him, he rocked me, he was able to get the win. So I’ve definitely had a crazy career, but I’m starting to put it together and starting to take my time and know that I can really do some damage if I just slow down just a little bit.”

Rockhold last competed in the main event of UFC Fight Night Pittsburgh and he defeated David Branch in that fight.

Despite calling out the former middleweight champion, the victorious Brunson didn’t have a specific opponent he wanted to fight.

“I wasn’t planning on calling Rockhold out, I didn’t have anybody in mind, it just kind of came to me at the last minute,” Brunson said. “And was like OK, that would be a good guy to fight next.”

Even though he was challenged by Brunson, the former UFC Middleweight Champion has yet to respond to the challenge.