Matt Brown on UFC retirement fight offer – “my d*ck didn’t get hard”
“The Immortal” Matt Brown announced Saturday that he was retiring from professional mixed martial arts after not having fought with the UFC since May 2023.
Brown, 43, began his professional mixed martial arts career in 2005 and has been with the UFC since the Ultimate Fighter Season 7 airing in 2008. His pro record stands at 24-19 after hanging up his UFC gloves.
“The UFC did make me an offer a few months ago for a fight,” Brown told MMA Junkie Radio on Monday. “I remember I woke up one morning and I saw the email, and my d*ck didn’t get hard. I didn’t get a feeling down my spine. I wasn’t excited. I was like, ‘Man, I could use that money. That’d be cool.’ But I just didn’t get fired up about it. That was probably the first thing. Then, secondly, (I’ve been) flipping houses and running a gym now. I have a good crew of people and staff in my gym. I really feel like I’m selling these people short because I’ve been fighting, and these businesses are not growing to the extent they could because I’m not putting that kind of energy into it.
“I’m just going for that quick buck, going and making money fighting. My guys in my gym have been with me for the six years I’ve owned it. They’ve gotten very small raises the whole time. I feel like I can make a lot more money, not only for myself but for them also. We have a lot of customers I don’t really get to hang out with and speak to. I just feel like I’m feeling a lot of people short, including my family. My children – the ability to be present with them and the ability to spend more time with them, things like that.”
Matt Brown said that he was holding out in hopes of facing Jim Miller at UFC 300 but ultimately when that didn’t happen, he knew it was time to go.
