Former UFC fighter Matt Brown announced his retirement from combat sports on social media, a decision he had been contemplating for some time and had informed the UFC about a few months prior.
Matt Brown, a seasoned UFC fighter, had an epiphany during his daughter’s soccer game. He realized he hadn’t updated his social media in a while. So, he decided to announce his retirement from combat sports after a 16-year stint in the UFC.
“I thought, ‘I need a social media post… why not a retirement post?’ I did it right then,” Brown shared on The Fighter vs. The Writer. He didn’t think much of it. Just another social media post, he thought. But the response was overwhelming. His phone blew up. It was surreal. He hadn’t realized how many people cared, how many lives he’d touched, how many he’d inspired.
Brown’s retirement announcement may have been spur of the moment, but he’d been contemplating it for a while. He’d informed UFC of his plans months ago, but struggled to go public. His identity was so tied to fighting, it was hard to let go.
“I thought about making another post saying, ‘Psyche, I’m coming back, fighting in six weeks! Thanks for the attention!'” Brown joked. But he’d thought long and hard about it. He was clear. “The reason it took so long to announce it, to call the UFC, was courage. A part of you dies, and you’ve got to break off that identity. It’s not easy.”
The real beginning of Brown’s retirement journey was a fight offer from UFC a few months ago. Normally, Brown would be thrilled to get that call or email. But this time, at 43, the veteran felt different.
“They offered me a fight a few months back, and that’s when I knew,” Brown explained. “I got the email, and the first thing I thought was, ‘I could use that money.’ But I didn’t get that chill. I didn’t take a deep breath like ‘here we go, baby!'”
In the past, a fight offer would send him straight to the gym, no matter the time. He’d over-train the first few weeks, run himself down, then build back up. But this time, the feeling wasn’t the same. His priorities had changed.
When that same charge didn’t hit him, Brown knew it was time to hang up his gloves. He reached out to UFC matchmaker Sean Shelby to inform the organization of his decision. The reaction wasn’t surprising given Brown’s dedication to MMA. But when he finally said the words, he was overwhelmed with emotion.
“They were shocked,” Brown said of telling UFC he was retiring. “They thought I’d broken my back or something. I was shocked too. When I first told Sean Shelby, I was at an airport. I remember sitting there in line to board the plane, and I shed a tear. It hurt bad. It was set in my mind, but I didn’t feel it until I said it. I hung up the phone and I shed a tear. It was surreal. A piece of me died.”
There were other factors in Brown’s decision to retire. He wanted to be more present for his three children. He’d started several new businesses, including a house-flipping venture in Columbus, Ohio. He also runs Immortal Martial Arts Center, a gym he opened six years ago. Now, he can finally focus on building it to its full capacity.
“I think people don’t realize how much more I am than [fighting],” Brown said. “I have a lot more pieces to me. I’m much smarter than that. Fighting is a huge part of me, but there’s so much more to me that I haven’t expressed. I feel like that’s my season of life now.”
Brown knows the jokes about MMA retirements and how they never seem to stick. UFC legend Jose Aldo proved that just this past weekend when he returned to action at UFC 301 less than two years after ending his MMA career.
Brown was removed from the promotion’s anti-doping program, so that’s at least one step he’s taken to prove this wasn’t just a snap decision. But he knows he’ll never completely forget about fighting again, because that’s almost an impossibility, especially for somebody who competed at his level of the sport.
“Fighting is a drug, 1,000 percent,” Brown said. “It’s an addiction and that high that you get like when you do cocaine for the first time, and then you’re chasing that high for the rest of the night, and then into the morning and then maybe the next afternoon. That can be a big downward spiral. That’s what happens in fighting. You’re just chasing that. You know you’ve got it in you to get back to where you once were, your former glory. But do you really have it in you? You constantly think you do because you do great in the gym or you’re feeling great, all these different things. But you’re constantly chasing that high again.
“It’s kind of setting in that this is real. It’s hard to imagine that I’m going to go on in this life and not fight again. I thought I was going to fight forever too!”