LAS VEGAS – Derek Brunson wants his opportunity to challenge for the middleweight title after his main event win over Darren Till at UFC Fight Night 191.

Brunson (23-7 MMA, 14-5 UFC) earned a third-round submission of Till (18-4-1 MMA, 6-4-1 UFC) in Saturday’s headliner at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, giving him five consecutive victories since he met Israel Adesanya at UFC 230 in November 2018.

A title shot has been on Brunson’s mind for a long time now, but he’s never been able to string together the right performances. That’s until now. He thinks he’s done enough, but with current champ Adesanya and Robert Whittaker tentatively targeted for an early 2022 date, it could be some time until Brunson’s opportunity materializes.

Brunson is already hearing the noise that he should stay active and fight Jared Cannonier (14-5 MMA, 7-5 UFC) in a true title eliminator. He didn’t completely shut down that suggestion but said he’s going to push to fight for the belt first.

“I can use a tune-up with one of the Jake Paul brothers or something like that,” Brunson told MMA Junkie and other reporters at the UFC Fight Night 191 post-fight news conference. “Maybe Dana White can loan me to the Triller to fight one of those guys, or maybe I can wait until Israel and Whittaker fight early next year and we can fight in March or April. We have some options. Cannonier isn’t completely off the table, but I’ve been adamant about asking for the toughest guys in the division. I asked for Paulo Costa, the UFC sent him a contract and he didn’t sign it. If I would’ve got that fight I would’ve been definitely next for the title. I’m doing all this work. I want to be rewarded. I’ve never got a title shot in my career.”

Brunson was soundly defeated by Adesanya when they first fought. His early takedowns were stuffed, and Adesanya teed off on him for a first-round TKO.

Now older and wiser, Brunson thinks a rematch against “The Last Stylebender” would play out differently. He admits his striking wasn’t particularly sharp against Till, but said he came into the fight with an injured rib and would hopefully have more weapons available in a championship fight scenario.

“Just really taking my time (would be the difference in an Adesanya rematch),” Brunson said. “This camp wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be with my stand up. My stand up is better than I was able to show tonight. I was able to get a few things off on the feet, with an uppercut. I saw some openings, but I was injured for the last three weeks of this camp, so I think with that time to spar and prepare my stand up looks really good and I can pose a threat to Izzy on the feet, and definitely on the ground.”