Make no mistake, Cody Brundage loves fighting in the UFC.
With three fights already under his belt thus far in 2026 including his stoppage win over Andre Petroski in his last outing, the 32-year-old veteran from Colorado has enjoyed how busy the UFC has kept him so far this year. Most fighters just hope to stay that active during an entire calendar year but Brundage already knocked out a trio of fights in just six months’ time.
That said, Brundage revealed that his incredibly busy schedule was ultimately by design because he and his wife — ex-UFC fighter Amanda Cooper — are welcoming a new baby to the family soon plus he plans to spend August through January training to become a firefighter.
“I don’t even know if you’ll see me again until next year,” Brundage told MMA Fighting. “I’ve got a baby coming in July. I just got accepted into the fire academy out here, which is four months of basically very limited MMA training.
“So I’ll probably be out for a while, which will be weird. I feel like I’ve been fighting every week but it will be good. I’m excited for the time off.”
While it’s not uncommon for fighters to hold jobs outside of the UFC, that almost inevitably raises questions about the pay scale in the promotion. UFC CEO Dana White just recently scoffed a questions over minimum salaries after WNBA players negotiated a new rate where nobody makes less than $270,000 for a season.
“First of all, if you come into the UFC, let’s say you sign a three-fight deal, we’re going to find out if you even belong in the UFC,” White said. “I should pay you $370,000 to see if you belong in the UFC?”
But Brundage is in a much different situation as a 16-fight UFC veteran but he’s not complaining about his pay whatsoever. In fact, Brundage argues that seeking out his new job as a firefighter actually lessens the stress surrounding his UFC career and he believes the end result is becoming a better fighter.
“Stability is definitely a thing,” Brundage explained. “Fighting is an awesome job but it’s not really a career. Some people need just their Plan A and if you give them a Plan B, they’ll struggle I think because they need to feel their back is against the wall.
“That doesn’t do it for me. I’ve got young kids, I’ve got a wife and to me, fighting only becomes easier when there’s stability in my life, like I have a career that I’m doing as well and if fighting doesn’t work out, then I have this career to fall back on. For me, that’s better because I’m fighting because I love fighting. I think it’s a good thing. It gives me direction before I’m done fighting.”
Brundage has seen plenty of horror stories in combat sports where athletes are clearly no longer in their primes but they continue competing because fighting is all they know.
The last thing Brundage wants is to overstay his welcome, especially if that comes along with absorbing the kind of damage that ends up affecting his quality of life or the ability to provide for his family.
“You see a lot of guys, they get done and then don’t really know where to go,” Brundage said. “That puts them in some of these spots that can be dangerous. If you’re fighting desperately and you’re doing bare-knuckle and you’re past your prime, you shouldn’t be fighting or they’re doing these different leagues and you’re like I think maybe you should be done.
“You never want to tell somebody that, especially when they don’t have a direction to go. So it gives me direction when fighting is done and it’s the type of job and career that’s awesome, pays well, has great benefits but also allows me to keep a schedule where I can fight, if that’s something I choose and want to do. So it’s the best of both worlds.”
Once he’s officially working as a firefighter, Brundage expects to work 24 hour shifts during the week but that also allows him plenty of time to train and stay on call whenever the UFC needs him.
Plus now that he’s not dependent solely on his UFC paycheck, Brundage expects the results are going to show in the cage as well.
“I think there will be some negative things that will be hard to navigate but for the most part, I think it’s all positive,” Brundage said. “It makes fighting much easier, to be honest.”
Perhaps the best part about the timing of this hiatus is that Brundage is taking a break coming off a win rather than a loss.
“I feel like everybody kind of hates on me a little bit, the record doesn’t do me any favors, but three out of my last four [fights] were [split decisions],” Brundage explained. “I feel like you switch those three to me winning, which isn’t that crazy, and my record looks a lot different. I’ve got 15 wins and only six losses, that’s a pretty good record and then I’m 9-6 in the UFC. That’s pretty good.
“It’s not like I was getting killed but no one looks at the fights, no one goes back and watches the fight. They just look at the record, look at the result and go ‘this guy’s not good.’ I feel like it’s not a performance issue, we’re figuring it out but we’re just right there. It felt like I turned a corner a little bit and I hope we can keep it going.”
Early 2000s there was a guy in the Chicago/NW Indiana MMA scene that quit MMA because he wouldn’t be able to continue to train and be a firefighter.
He was supposed to fight Stephan Bonnar before he quit, but Bonnar got injured. Dude fought a replacement fighter. Their matchup never happened, and Bonnar got picked to be on TUF.
His name was Jim Theobald. He would have tooled Bonnar.
There’s monsters in the gym that for one reason or another, never make it to the big stage.
I sparred a fighter that was 20-1 and was giving the business to some big name fighters but he got into trouble with the law and landed up in the clink. Not uncommon.
To be fair to Jim, had MMA been as popular then as it was now, it probably wouldn’t have been an issue.
IIRC, it was either continue MMA, or don’t take this job as a firefighter.