After picking up the biggest win of his career Sunday, besting Rick Story by decision at UFC on Versus 4, Brenneman was right back to his normal life Tuesday, helping out at a wrestling camp while finally getting his big reward for his big win.
"Right now I'm having one of the feasts and I'm eating my celebration cake," Brenneman said Tuesday on Bloody Elbow Radio. "Vanilla with a lot of icing. Exactly the way I like it. We've got steak, shrimp, salmon and salads, so I'm sitting pretty."
The last week has been "absolutely insane," Brenneman said. He arrived in Pittsburgh last Wednesday without a fight as his scheduled opponent, T.J. Grant, pulled out due to illness. Then, when the whole Nate Marquardt situation went down, Brenneman was ready to go and stepped in to fight Story.
"They told me at the beginning of the week, and whether they knew of the problem or not, I'm not really sure, but they had said I had to make weight to get my show money," Brenneman said. "So regardless of anything, I had to cut weight to get my show money. I thought of doing it the wrong way, just stuffing my face and then sitting in the sauna all night, but my team, my brother and my trainer, we all figured we better take it as seriously as possible and the way it ended up, it worked out perfectly."
It did indeed as Brenneman took two of three rounds on the judges scorecards to upset Story, who had climbed rapidly in the rankings following six straight wins, including an upset win of his own over Thiago Alves a month prior at UFC 130.
Coming in on short notice, Brenneman had a very simple game plan. He wanted to use his wrestling and bully the bully.
"The way Rick fights, he puts on the pressure, he's the bully," Brenneman said. "He puts you against the cage, on your back and doesn't let up and we knew that. To be honest, it all started at the weigh-in. We didn't want to give him an inch. If he pushes, push back and push first. I just knew from the beginning I needed to put him on his back and keep him there."
As for what's next, Brenneman is looking to take a week to relax and move forward from there.
"The next phase is going to be getting back in the gym, getting back to taking some classes and getting better," Brenneman said. "To be honest, I don't know where I'm going to go. I don't know where I want to go. I want to talk to my manager and have him talk to Joe Silva and see what they're thinking. And whatever decision is made, I'll go from there. I'll fight anyone that makes sense."
You can hear the entire interview with Brenneman, along with a chat with fellow UFC on Versus 4 winner Rich Attonito, on Tuesday's edition of Bloody Elbow Radio.