Mike Brown decides against retirement, signs new five-fight deal with UFC

Cat--Smasher · 07-04-2012, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Mike Brown has made up his mind. Retirement will have to wait.

The UFC featherweight, who had contemplated hanging up the gloves after his last fight, has elected to keep fighting and has signed a new five-fight extension with the UFC.

Brown (26-8 MMA 2-3 UFC), a former WEC featherweight champion, on Tuesday announced the news on his personal website.

Brown said after years of dealing with injuries and fight-related fatigue, he thought this past May the time had come to retire.

"The last couple of years were kind of rough on me," Brown stated. "I had lots of injuries and I was feeling fatigued during training and fights. When you feel like this it takes all the fun out of being in the cage. I was starting to think that was going to continue."

Booked for a fight at UFC 146 in Las Vegas against Daniel Pineda, Brown believed he might retire regardless of the outcome.

Going in to the last fight with Pineda I was pretty certain that was going to be my last fight," Brown stated. "I talked to my friends, family, and coaches. I told them how I was feeling and I told them I would make up my decision about retirement after the fight."

Even after outpointing Pineda 29-28 on all three judges scorecards for his second straight victory, he told reporters he would be giving retirement some thought. But apparently he felt good enough against Pineda that he turned a corner and went from possible retirement to career extension.

This fight felt different," Brown stated. "I felt great and I felt no fatigue. I felt like I did when I won the belt in 2008/2009. I felt like I could (have) easily went five rounds and I had a lot of fun being out there.

"Last week I signed a new (five)-fight deal with UFC and plan to continue on and finish up my new contract."

Mike Brown decides against retirement, signs new five-fight deal with UFC | MMAjunkie.com