Over the weekend we got some fight news as we learned that the UFC has booked a fun one in the middleweight division. Ariel Helwani was the first to report that the promotion had finalized a matchup between top contenders Derek Brunson (23-8) and “The Joker” Jack Hermansson (23-7).
The fight will take place at a Fight Night on December 3rd. For Hermansson, he’s going to be looking for his second straight win. We just saw The Joker a few weeks ago at UFC London where he took on Chris Curtis. Originally, he was supposed to take on Darren Till, but Till pulled out of the fight with an injury.
It wasn’t the most thrilling performance from Hermansson at UFC London, but he got the job done. Prior to that, he lost a decision in a headliner against Sean Strickland. A few years ago, Hermansson seemed like a guy who could challenge for the middleweight title.
While that is still his goal, he’s still a ways off from that. However, his next opponent was just in a title eliminator prior to this booking. That would seemingly indicate that a win would put Hermansson in the discussion.
End of the UFC line for Brunson?
The last time we saw Derek Brunson was back in February when he took on Jared Cannonier at UFC 271. Brunson’s fight with Cannonier was labeled a title eliminator and Brunson was focused on getting a rematch against Israel Adesanya.
In the first round, Brunson looked sensational. He dropped Cannonier and was able to get his back and secure a rear naked choke in the final seconds. However, the bell sounded and the fight went to the second round. Had there been more time, Derek Brunson would have likely secured a UFC title shot.
In the second round, a tired and discouraged Brunson got beat up by Jared Cannonier. Eventually, Cannonier was able to put Brunson away with about thirty seconds left in the round. That loss snapped a five-fight winning streak that dated back to Brunson’s loss to Adesanya.
Now, Brunson had said that he was planning on walking away from the UFC after one more fight. At this time, there’s no word on if he still plans on following through. If he does, this will be the last time that we see him grace the octagon.