Derek Brunson put on a dominant display at Saturday night’s UFC Fight Night 119 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In the night’s main event, Brunson welcomed Lyoto Machida back inside the octagon. “The Dragon” had not competed inside the octagon in two years, following an 18 month suspension from the sport.
Brunson managed to sink in a knockout victory over “The Dragon” within the first round, making for the fighter’s second consecutive first round knockout finish.
Speaking with MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani on today’s edition of The MMA Hour, Brunson offered his thoughts on his career moving forward. The fighter called out former champion Luke Rockhold in his post-fight interview, but offered Helwani some other fighters that are currently on his mind. For one, Brunson wouldn’t mind taking on Yoel Romero once again.
Romero earned a TKO victory over Brunson back in 2014 at UFC Fight Night 35. That being said, Brunson believes performance enhancing drugs may have played a role in his defeat.
Speaking to Helwani, Brunson said:
“I’m definitely open to a Romero fight, but I’m going to let his steroids cool off a little bit more and see who the real fighter is.”
When asked point blank if he believes Romero was on steroids during their fight, Brunson responded “Hell yeah, of course he was.”
Yoel Romero was suspended for six months following a failed drug test in 2016. The fighter failed the test for ibutamoren, a growth hormone release stimulator.