Matt Brown will seek to tie the record for the most knockouts in UFC history when he clashes with fellow welterweight veteran Court McGee at a UFC event scheduled on May 13.
Brown officially announced the matchup on the new episode of The Fighter vs. The Writer.
“Coming back, I’m going to smash some faces,” Brown said. “Court, he’s a great guy, I’ve hung out with him before. Great competitor. We both have similar backgrounds in some respects. We both overdosed. He’s really embraced that.
“So I’ve got a lot of respect for the guy but I’m ready to go in there and smash his f******* face in with my elbow.”
With 12 knockouts already on his resume, the 42-year-old fighter from Ohio will attempt to tie Derrick Lewis’ record if he can stop McGee in May. Brown is coming off a Fight of the Night performance in his last outing against Bryan Barberena this past May.
According to Brown, he didn’t necessarily intend on being out for 14 months but that’s just how things played out before he was able to compete again.
“It’s unfortunate it’s been [over a year],” Brown said. “I didn’t want it to take that long but I tell all these people all the time when they ask me what it’s like being a fighter. Fighting isn’t that hard. This is what we love to do. It’s not easy to excel at it. You have to have some talent, you have to work extremely hard, you have to dedicate your life to it, sacrifice all of that but when you get into the UFC, you see the light at the end of the rainbow. I wouldn’t necessarily call that hard.
“You have a lot of motivation. You’re with the f****** stars. The sky’s the limit. We love this lifestyle so much I don’t call that hard. What’s hard is f****** life. That’s why I’ve been out for the year. Life is a f******* b****.”
Now that he’s back, Brown is anxious to return to the win column while facing another veteran like McGee after he was actually offered a potentially easier option.
“With this specific one they offered me two guys,” Brown revealed. “They offered me a younger guy and then they offered Court and they said basically you can pick whichever one and I went for Court. I kind of played that card this time and to be honest, I think the younger guy may have been an easier fight. But that was the card I played this time so we’ll see what happens.”
As for McGee, he will look to bounce back from a loss to Jeremiah Wells in his last appearance in June 2022, which stopped his two-fight win streak. McGee has gone 2-4 in his past six fights but he’ll attempt to get back on track at Brown’s expense when they meet in May.
The upcoming card on May 13 will be headlined by a light heavyweight fight pitting one-time title challenger Anthony Smith taking on Johnny Walker with more fights expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Audio-only versions of The Fighter vs. The Writer can be found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Stitcher