Cody Brundage | Wins & Lessons In The UFC’s Octagon

Photo courtesy Sianya Becerril

LAS VEGAS — You can’t be married to results; you have to be in love with the process.

It’s easier said than done, but that’s a lesson that Cody Brundage stresses constantly to himself and his teammates as a captain at Factory X in Denver.

“We always say that the result will break your heart so don’t focus on that,” the 31-year-old Chapin, SC product says. 

“That’s admittedly easier to say when you’re getting the results you wanted, but truly believing and living that philosophy is something you should be striving for as an athlete, and in life. It’s always a work in progress for me, but it’s definitely something that I’m working hard on.”

The margin for error in the Octagon is far too thin to live and die with your results. There are too many variables and the stakes are too high to tie your worth to wins and losses. All you can control are your attitude and your effort — two areas in which long-time Factory X teammates Dustin Jacoby and Youssef Zalal agree Brundage is nearly in a league of his own.

“Cody always has a great attitude in the gym and when training for fights,” Jacoby says. “He works hard and really pushes everyone he trains with. He’s a tremendous teammate and coach at Factory X.”

“I think he gives more to his teammates than to himself,” Zalal adds. “He brings a lot of laughter and great energy to the room.”

For all his effort and sacrifice, Brundage, a long-time client of Iridium Sports Agency, has enjoyed the highest of highs in the Octagon. All five of the Contender Series product’s victories on combat sports’ greatest stage have come by first-round finish. The proud girl dad Brundage has earned a pair of $50,000 Performance Bonus checks since signing with the organization in 2021. 

Brundage has also been saddled with heartbreaking outcomes that could shake the foundation of even the most steadfast professional athletes.

On Saturday, Brundage was rocked by an illegal headbutt in his middleweight matchup with Mansur Abdul-Malik at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, GA. The blow left him unable to continue, prompting a rare technical decision that Brundage is appealing on the grounds that the fight should be overturned to a No Contest.

His 2023 matchup with Jacob Malkoun also ended prematurely when Brundage absorbed illegal elbow shots to the back of his head, resulting in a “hollow” disqualification victory. Nine months later, a barrage of illegal elbows from opponent Abdul Razak Alhassan resulted in their matchup being ruled a No Contest.

“I think I have more controversial endings in my career than anybody I can think of,” the good-natured Brundage offers with a laugh. 

“It can be frustrating and it can leave a bad taste in your mouth because of the lack of closure. But I think at this point we’ve had enough experience with any type of result that we’re able to put anything behind us and move forward.”

A former two-time NCAA qualifier on the mat at Newberry College, Brundage has the intelligence, personality and work ethic to succeed in nearly any profession. Still, it sounds like he wouldn’t rather be doing anything else.

“I met my wife through this sport (fellow UFC vet Amanda Bobby Brundage, nee Cooper), as well as the best man at my wedding, most of my best friends and most of my main mentors in life.

“The bonds and the memories that you make with your teammates are incredible. Through hardship, success, training, bleeding, crying — it really fast-tracks your relationship. It’s not the same, but I think it’s similar in some ways to going to war. You grow close through your success and your trauma, and there’s just not much else out there that can replicate that.”

ABOUT IRIDIUM SPORTS AGENCY 

Iridium Sports Agency is a full-service professional management firm for the world’s best combat sports athletes, including former UFC World Champions Alexa Grasso, Brandon Moreno and Sean Strickland, and many other athletes currently in the UFC’s Top 15 rankings. Founded in 2009 by attorney Jason House, Iridium represents more than 100 athletes in the UFC and Professional Fighters League, as well as many of the world’s best wrestlers, including Olympic Gold Medalist David Taylor. Iridium's world-wide team of industry-leading agents is devoted to assisting athletes in all aspects of their professional lives, and consistently setting new standards for sports management.