Longtime UFC fighter Matt Brown is set to retire after his upcoming fight against Diego Sanchez at UFC Fight Night Norfolk.
Despite the fact that he is retiring soon, the UFC fighter will keep himself in the USADA testing pool.
“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 on The MMA Hour. “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.”
Brown also acknowledges that recent health concerns are what has lead him to make the decision to retire.
“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 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.”
UFC Fight Night Norfolk takes place on Saturday, November 11 from the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Virginia with Anthony Pettis and Dustin Poirier headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Fox Sports 1.
