Cub Swanson decided to wait until after his UFC Fight Night 123 bout with Brian Ortega to work on a new deal with the promotion.
However, Swanson was unable to get the win, falling via submission to Ortega in the main event from Fresno, California and the Save Mart Center.
With free agency looming and coming off the loss, Swanson is unsure what will happen next.
“It stings,” Swanson said after the fight (thanks to MMAjunkie for the quotes). “It just gets thrown back in your face, ‘You don’t win the big ones.’ So, it’s like, what am I going to say? I’m sure we’ll negotiate. Dana (White) said ‘let’s make a deal’ from outside the cage. But do I got to crawl back and say, ‘OK, I’ll take that deal I said no to.’ We’ll see. I’m going to enjoy family over Christmas and all that and try not to be in low spirits.”
White made sure to reiterate that he wants to keep Swanson around, telling members of the media “I yelled up to him, ‘Let’s get a deal done.’ Cub’s been around forever. He’s a great kid and I like him. Hopefully we can get something done and I can keep him happy; I want him to be happy.”
Swanson had his four-fight win streak snapped by Ortega. Each of his last three losses have come via submission, as UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway and former lightweight titleholder Frankie Edgar each earned submissions vs. him.
