“He still made technical errors on the floor” – Dan Hardy breaks down how an Israel Adesanya – Derek Brunson rematch goes

Derek Brunson recently picked up a dominant third-round submission victory over Darren Till in the main event of UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Till. In the aftermath of his victory, Brunson proceeded to call out UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya for a rematch.

Dan Hardy has now given his prediction on how an Israel Adesanya vs. Derek Brunson rematch might play out. The first meeting between Adesanya and Brunson at UFC 230 resulted in a first TKO victory for ‘Izzy’. However, Hardy believes things might be different this time around.

According to Hardy, Derek Brunson could have more success exploiting certain loopholes in Adesanya’s ground game. Of a potential rematch between Adesanya and Derek Brunson, Dan Hardy recently told Submission Radio:

“You know, I think it might last a bit longer. I think (Derek) Brunson might have a bit more success with wrestling. I mean, there are things about Izzy’s game that do concern me. In recent fights, you know, even in the Jan (Blachowicz) fight, of course he was outsized in that fight but he still made technical errors on the floor which I wouldn’t want to see from my pro team and not nearly at the level of Adesanya. Just some simple things he could have done better, you know, positioning wise, building frames and keeping himself safer. So if he does get taken down, I do very much feel like Brunson can make his life difficult.”

Dan Hardy believes Derek Brunson is underconfident in his striking

Derek Brunson was riding a five-fight win streak that included four knockout victories before losing to Robert Whittaker in 2016. However, Dan Hardy believes that Brunson is no longer the same striker.

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According to Hardy, Brunson realizing that his striking is not on par with the best in the division has made him lose confidence in his stand-up:

“He was effective because he was confident, not because he was good. And I think he ran into Rob Whittaker, he learned that lesson in that fight and he couldn’t get it together against Anderson Silva when he fought him after. Now he’s moved to Sanford MMA. It’s like he started to learn striking and realized he doesn’t have great striking skills and it’s undermined his confidence in his striking,” Hardy explained.

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