Did erectile dysfunction retire Matt Brown?!
No, probably not. “The Immortal” perpetual mixed martial arts (MMA) entertainer did simply lose his excitement, though.
Brown, 43, already had a brief unofficial retirement from the sport a few years back. However, the longtime Welterweight veteran and knockout artist made it clear he wasn’t returning with a series of Twitter posts this past weekend (Sat., May 4, 2024). He has since revealed his most recent offer to fight Max Griffin wasn’t doing it for him and he knew that must have been the sign that it was time.
“I remember I woke up one morning and I saw the email, and my d—k didn’t get hard,” Brown told MMA Junkie. “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 keep 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,” he continued. “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.”
Brown added that he’s open to the possibility of taking a fight outside MMA like many others before him have started to do in recent years. Nothing sounds too enticing at the moment for Brown, so don’t expect any crazy news to develop too quickly if at all.
If there was one final fight Brown had in mind, it was that hopeful veteran pairing of him and Jim Miller for UFC 300. Unfortunately for Brown, the fight instead went to Bobby Green, who defeated Miller via a unanimous decision.
“I’m not bitter by any means, but if there’s anything that rubbed me the wrong way it’s that I wasn’t able to get on 300 because that’s how I wanted to end it,” Brown said. “I begged to get on 100. I begged to get on 200. I begged to get on 300. I was like, ‘Dude, haven’t I earned something yet.’ I tried everything I could, and I thought it was set in stone. I was literally training to fight Jim Miller. He said he wanted to fight me; I said I wanted to fight him. I thought all the cards were in place, and I thought it was going to be an easy call, and then it didn’t happen. It would’ve been the perfect sendoff for me. I’m sure UFC has their reasons, whatever they are.”
Brown ends his career last picking up a first round highlight-reel knockout win over Court McGee in May 2023 (watch highlights).