The phrase gets uttered constantly around combat sports, but styles really do make fights.
Look no further than Cody Brundage pushing Bo Nickal deep into the second round of their matchup at UFC 300, more than five minutes longer than anyone else has survived with the three-time NCCA champion wrestler since Nickal first started competing in MMA. Despite earning a submission win, Nickal was disappointed in his performance, but perhaps even more telling was the way so many believers in his potential suddenly started questioning if perhaps the luster had gotten knocked off the highly touted prospect.
Brundage says that couldn’t be further from the truth.
“I think I’m a tougher matchup for him than maybe people wanted to acknowledge,” Brundage told MMA Fighting. “I have a wrestling background. I’m the only guy he’s ever fought who came from a wrestling background. I think there’s easier fights out there for him than me — and people would probably say [some of them] are [higher ranked] — just because of that wrestling background and some of the things I bring to the table.
“It’s about matchup. It’s not always about rankings or things like that. I think there’s guys in the top 15 he would have an easier time with than me for sure. I think he’s the real deal. He’s young. He’s young in the sport as well. Nobody was mad at [Alex] Pereira fighting that [Andreas] Michailidis guy when he was five fights, six fights into his career. People just hate on Bo Nickal for no reason.”
The narrative heading into the fight was that Brundage would likely get steamrolled by Nickal, which is what the Penn State alum had done to every other opponent in his young fighting career.
When that didn’t happen, Nickal suddenly faced questions about his legitimacy rather than people crediting Brundage for giving him a tougher fight than expected.
For his part, Brundage admits he probably listened to the naysayers a little bit too much. That’s why he exploded across the cage as soon as the fight started, which cost him in the end.
“I think I just got a little too overzealous, a little too greedy,” Brundage said. “I had some success, and off that success instead of resetting and measuring and finding my spots, I’m just like, ‘I’m going to go get this dude.’
“I think part of that was getting a little bit too caught up in the narrative of ‘this guy is going to finish you in a minute’ and everything everybody else was saying. I was like, ‘I’m not going out like these other dudes. So if I’m going out, I’m at least going to try to take his head off.’ I didn’t necessarily need to come out that hot. But it is what it is. You live and you learn.”
Even in defeat, Brundage still took away a valuable lesson from the experience — it reaffirmed his longstanding belief that he can hang with any middleweight UFC throws at him. But that’s also frustrating, because Brundage knows deep down, every loss he’s suffered could’ve just as easily been a win.
“I don’t have regrets,” Brundage said. “I wake up [and think], ‘I could beat that guy.’ There’s no part of me that’s like, ‘I had no chance to beat him.’ That part’s frustrating, but it is what is.
“I always joke with my coach, I’ve never once walked out of the cage thinking I just can’t cut it with these dudes, they’re too good for me. That’s exciting, but it’s equally parts frustrating.”
As he prepares to compete at UFC Denver on Saturday, Brundage promises to put his best foot forward to match up his skills and abilities with the execution inside the cage. He knows when the fighter he’s capable of being meets up with the fighter who actually performs in the octagon, that’s going to be a tough night at the office for anybody in the UFC.
“I can hang with those guys,” Brundage said. “I can hang with what they think are the top of the division. I just need to go in there and have a little bit more composure and things would go my way.”
