Cody Brundage admits he was hesitant to accept Rodolfo Vieira fight again but is confident he’ll TKO him at UFC Vegas 72: “I have more ways to win than Rodolfo does”
Cody Brundage wasn’t sure if he should accept a fight with Rodolfo Vieira again.
Brundage and Vieira were supposed to fight last November, but just before Brundage was supposed to fly to Las Vegas the Brazilian pulled out with an injury. It was disappointing turn of events for Brundage, but he ended up taking a short-notice fight against Michal Oleksiejczuk in December and lost by first-round knockout.
After the loss, Brundage wasn’t sure what would be next but when he was offered Vieira again at UFC Vegas 72, he admits he did have some hesitancy before taking the fight.
“I wasn’t super pumped to say yes again, it had nothing to do with the matchup,” Brundage said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “I like the matchup; I said yes before, and I feel like I’m a better fighter now. It had nothing to do with the matchup, it’s like no one talks about that this guy pulled out and all the expenses I had for the fight camp build up and then you don’t get the pay from the fight.
“Then, you owe people money and that’s not a good spot to be in,” Brundage continued. “That is something that I’m not anticipating will happen but it’s in the back of your mind. It is what it is, I can’t control that and if he pulls out I hope the UFC takes care of me, which I think they will. But it was something I thought about before saying yes again.”
After some time talking to his team, Brundage did take the fight and got right back into training camp. He already did a full camp preparing for Vieira and can now just add on to that game plan.
“I think we just added some more tools. It gave me more time to improve on some things that we were already working on,” Brundage said. “It’s not a huge difference, obviously, we know what he is very good at. It’s not even avoiding those spots, it’s just being intelligent when we do engage as I’m a very high-level grappler myself. I don’t want to negate things that I’m good at just because he is as well. It’s about being intelligent and game planning for that.”
Heading into his UFC Vegas 72 fight, Cody Brundage is well aware of how good a grappler Rodolfo Vieira is. However, even with that, Brundage says he won’t shy away from using his wrestling, but knows he has to be cautious of when he shoots for takedowns.
If Brundage can land some big shots and use his wrestling, he thinks Vieira will start to panic and get gassed. Once he’s gassed, Brundage expects he will get a TKO win late in the scrap.
“Honestly, I don’t anticipate him pushing wrestling early. He has that new karate style he has been working on and has a good one-two and point fighting a little bit, trying to keep the range,” Brundage explained. “But that is not his game, his nervous system goes up when he gets hit and that is going to force the wrestling. As he forces the wrestling, fatigue sets in… It’s an MMA fight and I have more ways to win than Rodolfo does. I’m a finisher, he’s a finisher, I don’t see it going the distance. Honestly, I think I get him out of there late second, or early third. I think I get the TKO; I don’t see myself subbing him.”
If Brundage does get the TKO win, he isn’t sure what will be next for him. He does have a daughter on the way so will take some time off but knows there are a ton of fun matchups for him out there.
“There are a lot of good matchups out there for me, especially with a win. If I go beat Rodolfo then I should call out Bo Nickal and when I beat him, I will be the best grappler,” Brundage said. “I’d beat the best jiu-jitsu guy and the best wrestler, so I’d have a pretty good claim. But I don’t know, there are a ton of good matchups.”
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