Derek Brunson says he’s “not given enough respect” at middleweight

Derek Brunson, who stopped Edmen Shahbazyan in the main event of Saturday’s UFC Vegas 5 card, feels he doesn’t get the respect he deserves.

Speaking at the card’s post-fight press conference, Brunson revealed that he saw many fans counting him out ahead of the fight—despite his best efforts to stay off social media.

“I had to get off social media all week,” Brunson said (via MMA Junkie). “I’d kind of glance at it and turn away. I wasn’t reading no Facebook or Instagram. Everybody was, ‘You’re going to get dogged. You’re going to get beat up real bad.'”

Brunson continued, explaining that he often feels he’s being discounted ahead of his fights. Nevertheless, he’s scored many high profile wins over the years, even under unideal training circumstances.

“I’m not given enough respect in this division,” Brunson said. “I’m OK with earning it. There have been fights where I’ve had the flu. I went to the doctor to nurse myself back to health – and five days later to fight. … We had a hurricane in North Carolina, and I was home with the family, making sure everything was OK. I had to fight 10 days after that when I wasn’t training for two weeks.

“Nobody cares about those excuses,” Brunson added. “But whenever I have a fight, yes, I want to prepare properly and get a full camp in with the guys down there with Henri Hooft and Sanford MMA to get me ready for these big fights.”

With his victory over Edmen Shahbazyan, Derek Brunson is now on an impressive, three-fight win-streak, having also recently picked up a pair of unanimous decisions over Ian Heinisch and Elias Theodorou.

His last loss occurred in late 2018, when he was knocked out by Israel Adesanya, who now holds the UFC middleweight title.

Do you think it’s time Derek Brunson started getting more respect from fans?