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UFC veteran who vowed to ‘shock the world’ admits he may lack key ingredient needed to be a champion

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Jan 8, 2026 1:02 AM ET

A fighter with 13 Octagon appearances under his belt has been honest about his career.

Petr Yan’s win over Merab Dvalishvili in the final title fight of 2025 may have been the single best performance from any fighter in the entire year.

The Russian’s stunning display to earn his revenge also continued a trend that we saw take place over the last twelve months.

Nine of the eleven UFC divisions have started 2026 with a different champion compared to this time last year, with Alexander Pantoja’s injury seeing him also lose his belt at UFC 323 last month.

Belts may have changed hands a lot last year but one fighter has been honest about whether he’ll ever get his hands on one.

Cody Brundage theorizes that he might not be selfish enough to be a UFC champion

Cody Brundage suffered a controversial split decision loss last time out to move his record in the UFC to 5-6-1.

The American debuted back in September of 2021 and has produced some impressive highlights, with five first round finishes under his belt including a slam KO.

His biggest opportunity came when Brundage said he’d ‘shock the world’ by beating Bo Nickal on the UFC 300 main card, though this didn’t go to plan for him.

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The 31-year-old recently told MMA Junkie about how this career path has made him a better person because of how difficult it is.

However, he also alluded to the idea that he believes something is stopping him from being even better and he isn’t sure what it is.

Brundage theorized about one area that he believes he might not be able to match the best of the best in.

“I think sometimes selfishness makes a great fighter, and I don’t really have that,” Brundage said. “I think it’s hard to be a dad and have selfishness. I have a little bit, I’m sure, but I don’t know if I have the selfishness you need to be a UFC champion. So maybe that’s what’s missing – I don’t know.”

Cody Brundage looks to put a disappointing year behind him later this month

Cody Brundage told MMA Junkie in the same interview that despite going 1-1-1 in 2025, he’s not being too harsh on himself.

He believes that he could’ve easily gone 3-0 in slightly different circumstances due to his second and third bouts of the year resulting in an overturned result and a controversial split decision.

“I don’t think I’ve had bad performances in my last year of competition,” Brundage argued. “I think I’ve had results I’m not happy with, but I haven’t performed poorly.”

He’s now set to return later this month at UFC 325 where he faces Australia’s Cam Rowston, who won his UFC debut via first round finish last September.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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