Mike Brown | Source: MMAWeekly.com
Former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Thomas Brown recently spoke with Tapology’s Steven Kelliher about his road back to the top to claim one last belt before he hangs up the gloves.
A little over a year and a half ago, Brown was on top of the featherweight division. However, while he has not lost back-to-back fights since 2004, the former champ has lost three of his last five, including a surprising Split Decision upset loss to Diego Nunes in his return to the UFC earlier this month.
“It was really weird,” Brown said about the loss to Nunes. “About four minutes [into the fight] my body kind of shut down. I don’t know if I over-trained or something, but I hit a wall of fatigue that wouldn’t go away. I thought the decision was right; I thought I won the first round and lost the next two rounds because I just didn’t have the gas to put him away.”
Although he is still widely considered to be a top five featherweight, Brown is all too aware that nobody is secure coming off of a loss in the UFC, especially on the heels of the UFC/WEC merger, which went into effect last month. Be that as it may, he is not about to let it rule his thoughts heading into his next fight.
“It’s always a possibility,” Brown said about being cut by the promotion. “I’ve been on a bad stretch where I’ve lost three out of my last five, and if you don’t win fights you’re going to get cut. I’m just worried about winning fights, period.
“Right now it’s UFC or nothing. If I can’t win fights, I don’t want to be in this sport anymore. If I keep losing, I don’t want to be in the game anymore, and obviously the UFC will keep me around if I start winning some fights.”
Brown hits a wall of lactic acid against Nunes at UFC 125 | Source: MMAWeekly.com
Brown will step into the Octagon for the second time in 22 days on Saturday night when he replaces an injured Chan Sung Jung against Brazilian Rani Yahya on the preliminary card of UFC Fight for the Troops 2. The turnaround is a quick one for a professional fighter, but Brown is ecstatic about the opportunity to erase the memory of his last bout.
“I want this so bad,” Brown said. “I hate having time off after I lose because I can’t relax. You’re only as good as your last fight, and that’s not how I want to be remembered. I took nearly a week off after that last fight then I felt amazing when I got back into training. I’ve been hitting the pads hard, training hard, I’m light, and I feel so much better now than I did in the two weeks leading up to my last fight.
“I couldn’t have begged for this type of chance. This is a dream come true. I train hard for every fight—I do eight-week camps—so when I’m in shape I want to use it. I go hard in the gym. That’s my mentality. I try to kill guys in the gym and they try to kill me. The work’s already done. I’m already in great shape and I’m already sharp.”
Many hardcore MMA fans were critical of the UFC’s decision not to air Brown’s UFC 125 fight against Nunes on the Pay Per View broadcast, and their complaints have resurfaced on account of Brown’s fight with Yahya showing no signs of making it onto the Spike TV broadcast. For his part, Brown has come to accept it as a reality of the business.
“Right now it looks like I’m just a new guy on the block,” Brown said. “I’ve got to prove myself in here and that’s okay. If I win, and I make it exciting, I’ll get onto the main card.”
With a victory over Yahya, Brown will have alternated wins and losses in seven consecutive bouts. Asked what changes he would need to make to return to the form that saw him win 10 straight from 2006-09, Brown cited a mental transformation.
“I just have to get my head on straight and get back to what I’m good at,” Brown said. “I’ve got a nice fundamental style of fighting—real basic, real primitive—and I like to put guys away. That’s what I have to get back to. I can do it and I’m going to do it. I’ve got one more belt to get before I’m done.”
After all, Brown may have held the world title at 145lbs, but deep down, every fighter yearns for the UFC strap.
(Check out www.MikeBrownMMA.com to keep up with the former champ.)
