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Top Middleweight Rethinks Retirement, Set for UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden

This UFC veteran will try to snap a two-fight skid when he takes on another top middleweight contender.

Drew Beaupré

Top Middleweight Rethinks Retirement, Set for UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden
Top Middleweight Rethinks Retirement, Set for UFC 295 at Madison Square Garden /

After appearing to suggest he was going to retire following his last loss, Derek Brunson has been booked to face Roman Dolidze at UFC 295 on November 11.

Currently the UFC’s #8-ranked middleweight contender, Brunson suffered his second-straight loss when he was finished by Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 285 earlier this year. 

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Comments made by the 38-year-old immediately after that difficult result indicated he might be hanging up his gloves, but now he’ll attempt to get back on track in a matchup with the #9-ranked Dolidze.

A mainstay of the UFC’s middleweight division since joining the promotion from Strikeforce in 2012, Brunson put together two separate five-fight win streaks that had him in closing in on his first shot at UFC gold. 

“The One” had his most recent stretch of success halted by Jared Cannonier at UFC 271, and he took more than a year off before coming up short against Du Plessis at UFC 285.

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Derek Brunson fighting Jared Cannonier.
Brunson has been stopped in his last two fights.  :: (Troy Taormina/USA TODAY Sports

Dolidze has only been on the UFC roster since 2020, but the Georgian shot up the middleweight rankings with a four-fight win streak before he dropped a unanimous decision against former title challenger Marvin Vettori at UFC 286. 

The matchup between top middleweights is a solid addition to UFC 295, which will likely get quite a few more high-profile matchups in the coming months considering it will take place at the famed Madison Square Garden.

The only other fight officially booked for the event so far is the main event between Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic, which will see “Bones” make the first defense of his heavyweight title against a fighter that many fans considered to be the division’s GOAT.

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