After more than 12 years of career, UFC Welterweight Matt ‘The Immortal’ Brown is calling it a career after his final bout against Diego Sanchez on November 11, 2017, at UFC Fight Night 120 in Norfolk Virginia.
According to Brown (20-16), his retirement thoughts arise before his most recent match against Donald Cerrone last December, which he lost the fight via knockout.
“Maybe that wasn’t necessarily when I first felt it, but that was when I came to the realization that it’s something I should start really thinking about,” Brown said. “Because when I was sitting in the locker room, it literally crossed my mind to not even walk out. I thought about just walking outside, getting an Uber, going back to the hotel and just being done with it. It wasn’t out of fear; it wasn’t out of nerves, it was just no excitement. I was kind of tired, a little bored. And just like, ‘Man, I don’t know if I feel like doing this right now.’
“I didn’t get into this to be a journeyman, or to be in second place, I came into this to be a champion, and I got very, very close to that, I think I was one round away from beating Robbie Lawler and getting to a title shot. Being that I got that close, right now, I don’t feel like I have that hunger inside my heart that’s going to get me back to that point and that’s not to say I won’t ever come back one day. I don’t plan on pulling out of the USADA testing pool, and I don’t plan on canceling my UFC contract because I’d like to keep that just in case there. But I’m not going to come back unless I plan on making a run for the title.”
As you have seen the fight, Matt Brown loss to Donald Cerrone by KO in Round 3 by getting a serious head kick. That was the first time Matt “The Immortal” had ever been knocked unconscious like that. Second consecutive time Brown loss via TKO in the early second round against Jake Ellenberger in UFC 201 fight on July 30, 2016.
“Absolutely, I got knocked out for the first time in my life in my last fight,” Brown said. “Got knocked down for the first time in my life before that. I have to wonder if – you know; I had a concussion last year for the first time. All these first-time things start happening 40 fights into my career, as a father and a family to go home to, when I’m slurring words to my kids, you start thinking, ‘How much is it worth all this?’ So that definitely plays a part, but it’s not necessarily my primary concern though. It’s not my primary motivation to retire, but it is a piece of the puzzle for sure.”
Matt Brown is glad his upcoming fight is against Sanchez (27-10) that is happening in Norfolk, VA. He knows Sanchez is having a reputation and is famous for Wild scraps, and this is what Matt Brown is looking and wants to put an entertaining show for his fans.
As a result of UFC announcing the fight, contender, timing, and location, where Matt Brown realized that he should let everyone aware of his retirement plan ahead of the time that this will be his last bout against Sanchez.
“Part of it was I just kind of had to commit to it,” Brown said. “What I’m afraid would happen is I would end up having a great camp, which right now I’m having probably one of the greatest camps I ever had, and then I’d get in there and feel amazing, and I’d be like, ‘You know what? I’m not going to retire.’ And then a couple of weeks later be like, ‘Ah man, I don’t know, I want to retire.’ I don’t want to go through that whole up and down, that rollercoaster; I don’t want to put my family through all that.
“The second part is that I want everybody to come out, my family and everybody to know that it’s going to be my last one and they can get their tickets and everything, and they can come out. Norfolk is coincidentally right in between my wife’s family and my family. My family is in Ohio; her family is in Massachusetts, it’s right there in the middle. I have a lot of family in North Carolina and Virginia Beach also, so it kind of works for everybody to kind of meet right there. And again, I think Diego makes a perfect retirement fight. I think we’re going to go out there, and we’re going to have a great war, and it’s going to be an amazing fight.”
Remember the event UFC Fight Night 120 between Matt Brown and Diego Sanchez is happening in Norfolk, Virginia on November 11, 2017.
