Cody Brundage speaks out after controversial UFC loss, reveals team already filed appeal. Cody Brundage walked into UFC Atlanta last weekend looking to make a statement. Instead, he left with a bitter taste in his mouth, a controversial loss on his record, and the unsettling feeling that something was taken from him, not by his opponent, but by the system that’s supposed to ensure fairness inside the Octagon.
The middleweight clash between Brundage and UFC newcomer Mansur Abdul-Malik was supposed to be a showcase. For two rounds, it was a tense, competitive battle. But in the third round, chaos struck, a clear headbutt from Abdul-Malik sent Brundage stumbling to the canvas. Mansur followed with a barrage of strikes before the referee stepped in.
Replays showed that a headbutt, rather than a legal strike, put Brundage down. What followed wasn’t a disqualification, or even a no-contest. Instead, the fight was stopped and handed over to the judges for a technical decision, which led to Abdul-Malik winning a technical decision.
“It didn’t even hurt me, it just took my legs,” Brundage told MMA Fighting about the headbutt.
“It buzzed me a little bit, my legs were gone so I dropped. I was covering up. Mansur’s best ability is to finish a fight when someone’s hurt, so when I was underneath, he’s raining down punches and I don’t want to move and make myself vulnerable, but I wasn’t hurt. I was definitely there.”
“I’m not really quite sure why I wasn’t given five minutes [to recover]. Just a lot of things happened, but I was never really out of it. As soon as the fight ends, I tell the referee after he pulled the guy off me, I was like, it was a headbutt. Immediately was protesting. I never went out. It was super frustrating.”
What really got to Brundage wasn’t just the illegal headbutt, it was the confusion. Earlier that same night, a similar foul happened in the fight between Paul Craig and Renato Bellato, and that one was ruled a no-contest. So why was his fight scored and counted as a loss? It just didn’t add up.
“If you could have seen our locker rooms—the locker room situation—we’re talking about the NFL of our sport, it was unbelievable. They had four teams in a locker room the size of a broom closet. It was so unprofessional.”
“I have it on good authority from people who would know as close to knowing as you can—there were multiple fighters that missed weight and the commission just kind of let it slide. I don’t know if I’ll fight outside of Vegas again because these commissions are wonky. I hope they do the right thing and overturn this fight.”
He isn’t alone in asking these questions. Fans took to social media scratching their heads at the decision. Adding fuel to the fire, Brundage pointed out inconsistencies across recent UFC events.
According to Brundage, his team has already filed an official appeal with the Georgia Athletic and Entertainment Commission. He’s hoping for the result to be overturned based on the state’s own regulations, which he says prohibit scoring a round that ends prematurely due to a foul.
Beyond the appeal, Brundage is rethinking how and where he fights next.
“I don’t want to fight outside of Vegas anymore. The commission in Georgia? The way they handled everything, even down to the locker rooms—it just felt off.”
Whether or not the commission reconsiders the ruling, Brundage’s voice has added to a growing conversation around officiating and accountability in MMA. His case isn’t just about a single fight, it’s. about the integrity of the sport.
