Matt Brown Says One More Body Shot And He Was Done At UFC Fight Night 40
Matt Brown returned to action this past Saturday at UFC Fight Night 40, and his main event bout against Erick Silva lived up to every second of the hype. ‘The Immortal’ put his unbeaten stretch to seven with the thrilling third round TKO against ‘Indio’, and put another exclamation mark in his appeal for a title shot.
Silva did rock Brown in the early stages with some brutal body shots, but ‘The Immortal’ lived up to his name when he rallied back in epic fashion. During an appearance on today’s The MMA Hour, ‘The Immortal’ discussed his enthralling scrap with Silva:
“It just felt like another fight to me, the first (kick to the body) was the worst one. The other ones hurt, but the first one caught me cold. After I was warmed up, I could take it better. It didn’t hit my ribs, it was my liver/stomach. It was still hurting after the fight was over. The only other time I’ve been hit to the body that hard was Jordan Mein.”
Brown has become such a fan favourite because of his aggressive, hit or be hit style, but that style comes with inherent risks; being hit primarily, and by welterweights with serious knockout power. Brown coming out cold, combined with his forward style, nearly resulted in a first round TKO loss in Cincinnati, he continued:
“He went for the submission, I was leaving my face open to get punched so my body could recover. I knew if I got hit in the body again it would be over. He ended up going for the submission before wrecking my face. I was pretty pissed off for sure, my biggest issue with the whole fight is I came out cold. I think maybe I had a bit of ring rust too, I didn’t perform as well as I could have. It had been a long time since I had really been in a fight. I wasn’t on my game.”
It seems that Brown questioned himself a lot during the fight of the night in Ohio, but he says that his surroundings aided him massively:
“I felt perfectly at home, it felt really good. It felt awesome to be in the main event too. I can’t wait to be doing it, fighting for a title. I was surprised that the elbows weren’t hurting him more. His head was hurting my hands and elbows, I kept asking myself ‘what’s wrong here?’ I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t hurting him, but I was having a lot of fun out there too. I really have a lot of respect for (Silva)”
One question surrounding Brown’s quest for a title fight is the Top 10 factor, more specifically does his seven fight win streak contain enough talent? A seven-fight win streak is certainly a strong case in anyone’s promotion, especially given how exciting Brown’s fights are. ‘The Immortal’ remained humble in his assessment of the situation:
“I want to fight this weekend. I read something that said I have to do another fight, I don’t know what’s fair. I believe I’ve done enough to get a title fight. I have a hard time seeing it from the outside in, I’ve never had a boring fight, I have all these records for punching people. I honestly haven’t thought about (my next opponent).”
Surely one last win would lead to a title fight, but either way I think Brown will be a mainstay in the division. Seven straight wins, six knockouts, and not a boring fight in sight. I’d be happy to see ‘The Immortal’ fight for the title, but do you think he needs that extra win against a Top 10-ranked opponent first?
