Matt Brown will soon be walking away from mixed martial arts (MMA) competition.
Brown is set to take on Diego Sanchez on Nov. 11 inside the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia. The bout will be part of UFC Fight Night 120’s main card.
“The Immortal” insists it’ll be his last MMA bout. He’ll look to go out with a victory. Brown hasn’t won a bout since July 2015.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Brown said his knockout loss against Donald Cerrone was a wakeup call:
“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. 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.’”
“The Immortal” went on to say that he doesn’t want to continue his career as a gatekeeper.
“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.”
