Derek Brunson weighs in on early stoppage controversy from ‘Jacare’ fight

The North Carolina Boxing Commission didn’t exactly shine over the weekend when the UFC was in Charlotte for their Jacare vs. Brunson card on FOX. The new unified rules and judging standards had yet to be implemented, the event featured numerous head scratcher scorecards, and to top it off some felt the main event between Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza and Derek Brunson was stopped prematurely.

That view comes mainly from the fact that Brunson continued to try and rise to his feet after falling into the cage off a big Jacare headkick. Things lean more towards the stoppage being legit when you see the replay and the lack of defense he was putting up as Souza continued to hit him upside the head with strikes.

Brunson himself weighed in on the stoppage in a post-fight interview with MMA Junkie’s Ken Hathaway.

”Could have went a little bit longer but in this game you gotta defend yourself,” he said. “You can’t get caught with good shots because the refs, they gotta keep the sport clean and make sure guys aren’t taking big damage. I can’t blame nobody but myself. I look at the replay and, man, I cover up tighter, and we’re still in the fight.”

Tightening up the defense was a key takeaway for Brunson following the first round TKO.

”I felt really good in the fight, was doing well,” he said. “I saw myself taking him out, but hey, it didn’t go my way. So it’s just back to the drawing board. I learned the hard way. I definitely have to be a little bit tighter out there as far as defending kicks. Even if I do think I’m seeing things well, just got to be a little bit tighter.”

The loss drops Brunson to 18-6 and derails his bid for a title shot that he had been building up with first round knockouts of Dan Kelly and Lyoto Machida. Previous to that was the ridiculous decision loss to Anderson Silva that most still consider a win for Derek, but after this loss Brunson is back on the outside of the contender’s circle looking in.