UFC fighter Randy Brown has expressed frustration over his repeated attempts to secure a fight with Michael Chiesa, who he claims has been avoiding the matchup despite verbally agreeing to it in the past.
Randy Brown had a chance encounter with UFC commentator Michael Chiesa at UFC Vegas 85. This happened at the UFC APEX last Saturday. Chiesa was there for ESPN+, while Brown was there to fight. And boy, did he fight! He knocked out Muslim Salikhov in the first round.
Brown’s admiration for Chiesa dates back to his amateur MMA days. He watched Chiesa win The Ultimate Fighter 15. But, his feelings changed as he tried to climb the welterweight rankings.
Brown confronted Chiesa, “Bro, what’s up, man? What are we doing? What are we really doing?” He said this on The MMA Hour. He wanted Chiesa to be upfront if he wasn’t interested in a fight. Brown wasn’t trying to bully him. He just wanted a good fight.
“I’m down to fight anybody,” Brown said. He respects Chiesa and thinks he’s a legend. Chiesa has been around for a long time. Chiesa didn’t comment on this when asked by MMA Fighting.
Brown tried to get Chiesa to sign a contract. When that didn’t work, he went public with his requests. He’d been trying to get a fight since his early UFC days.
“I called him out before, and we had a conversation,” Brown said. They talked in Vegas. Brown was with Joe Pyfer. Chiesa said he was down to fight. Brown asked him respectfully. It made more sense than when he called him out in Brazil. Chiesa said, “Yeah, sure, let’s do it. We’ll make it happen. I’ll talk to my people, see if we can get them talking to the UFC.”
Brown was cool with that. He didn’t want to put Chiesa on the spot. But then, nothing happened. They had the same conversation again at Madison Square Garden. Chiesa promised they’d get it done. But the UFC said Chiesa wasn’t interested.
Brown would have let it go. But Chiesa’s role as a commentator changed things. Brown thought Chiesa was too critical of his 2021 win over Jared Gooden. He thought it was because he wanted to fight him.
After that, Brown tried to fight him again. He DMed Chiesa, who said he didn’t see the message. Then Chiesa called out Colby Covington. Brown thought, “I guess he wants to fight up, which makes sense. But I’m like, bro, you’re on a losing streak. You should probably fight somebody that’s coming up, and I thought who better to fight than me. That’ll be a good fight.”
He messaged Chiesa again. Chiesa claimed he didn’t see it.
They ran into each other again at the UFC’s fight production facility. Chiesa repeated his previous points and “promised” they would meet in the octagon. Brown isn’t holding his breath.
“But I have a gut feeling maybe we’ll see now that people are talking about it,” Brown said. He just wants the notch. It could be Chiesa, or it could be [Neil] Magny.
The problem for fighters like Brown is that fighting up requires someone to fight down. In this case, that’s Chiesa. Despite a three-fight skid, he’s No. 14 on the UFC’s list. A fight with Brown could damage his career.
Brown is understandably frustrated.
“I think that everyone wants to fight up,” he said. “That’s the problem. And I think that once you enter the top 15, you should be prepared to fight anyone with a number at any time.”
He calls it the welter-wait division. Everyone seems to be waiting for the perfect moment. If you’re truly the best, you fight anybody. But when it’s time to show up and put their name on a piece of paper, they ain’t doing it.