UFC middleweight Cody Brundage will live to fight another day following his co-main event victory over Julian Marquez at UFC Vegas 103 this past weekend.
Having only had his hand raised after two of his previous seven fights, Brundage (11-6 MMA, 5-5 UFC) was feeling the heat going into his clash against "The Cuban Missile Crisis" on Saturday's card. With the fight against Marquez (9-6 MMA, 3-5 UFC) also being the final one on his UFC contract, the 30-year-old was fully aware his back was against the wall ahead of the fight.
“I’m at peace. I’m just happy, man,” Brundage told reporters at the post-fight press conference. “When you feel like you’re going to lose your dream, it can be really tough. So to kind of take your dream back is empowering and it feels really good. I’m just at a good place.
“Maybe it wasn’t the fight I wanted. I wanted it to be super smooth, take him out and be super slick, but I think that was the fight I needed.”
In what turned out to be one of the craziest one-round fights in recent UFC history, Brundage had to ride his luck at times. Both men took big shots, both gumshields ended up on the canvas, but Brundage ultimately rallied late in the opening round to pick up the knockout victory.
“I came with a super slick (strategy), touch, don’t get hit, but sometimes fighting don’t work out that way,” Brundage said. “I know I landed a hard knee and a hard uppercut, and I saw he was hurt. I know I have good killer instinct. … I’ll have to go back and watch the fight. I don’t remember sh*t. We were getting after it.”
Going forward, brundage insists the wants to choose his next move carefully.
“I know some guys just got booked, and some of the guys that got booked were on that list,” Brundage said. “I don’t need to be like I was. I don’t need to fight six times in 14 months. If a good opportunity comes, hell yeah. But the first thing I want to do is go home to my girls and my wife and just give them the time they deserve.”
