Derek Brunson is a former wrestling star who’s shown fantastic raw talent early in his career. An excellent athlete, Brunson’s natural speed and power combination is terrific. He also appears to be taking an intelligent approach to his training (starting out at Evolution MMA, before moving on to the Renzo Gracie Academy as well as spending time with Greg Jackson), and did sign with Strikeforce less than a year into his professional fighting career.

Brunson enters MMA on the heels of a very successful amateur wrestling career. A standout at UNC- Pembroke, Brunson was a three-time NCAA Division II All-American. Early in his fighting career he’s shown strong takedown capabilities, particularly from in close where he employs nice inside and outside leg trips. Brunson is extremely dangerous from top position, showing excellent posture and proving very difficult for opposing fighters to control. Overwhelming with his ground and pound, Brunson explodes with his punches, cutting straight through opposing defenses with quick flurries. His punches pack a lot of power behind them, and Brunson’s noted for knocking opponents out with just a single well timed strike from the top. Although his BJJ and guard game will be points of focus going forward, Brunson is blessed with quick hips and the ability to stuff takedowns consistently.

While his background might be as a wrestler, Brunson embraces the standup. He presses the action and loves to let his hands go, displaying excellent speed-power potential as an MMA striker. His natural athleticism serves him well as Brunson is capable of exploding with his punches, seemingly out of nowhere. He is equipped with a very dangerous left hand and fantastic knockout punching power. Brunson will need to shore up his technique and defense, but is certainly talented enough to develop into a dangerous middleweight striker.