UFC President Dana White updates on whether Cub Swanson will stay with the UFC

Last night, in the main event of the UFC’s anticipated debut in Fresno, California long-time featherweight contender Cub Swanson stepped into the cage with surging prospect Brian Ortega.

Ahead of this bout, which marked the final obligation on his current UFC contract, Swanson repeatedly suggested he planned to test his value as a free agent post-fight. Unfortunately, he lost this contest by second-round submission, which makes his future quite a bit murkier.

Post-fight, a defeated Swanson discussed his possible free agency.

“It stings,” Swanson told MMAjunkie. “It just gets thrown back in your face, ‘You don’t win the big [fights].’ So, it’s like, what am I going to say? I’m sure we’ll negotiate. [UFC President Dana White] said ‘let’s make a deal’ from outside the cage. But do I got to crawl back and say, ‘OK, I’ll take that deal I said no to before?'”

“We’ll see,” Swanson continued. “I’m going to enjoy family over Christmas and all that and try not to be in low spirits. I thought I fought great. I just didn’t get the ending I wanted.”

While it’s clear that Swanson is not particularly optimistic about the current state of his career, UFC President White assured post-fight that he’d like to arrange a new deal that makes the veteran featherweight happy.

“I yelled up to him, ‘Let’s get a deal done,’” White said. “Cub’s been around forever. He’s a great kid, and I like him, and hopefully we can get something done with him, and I can keep him happy. I want him to be happy.”

This loss marks the end of a four-fight streak for Swanson. This streak was highlighted by memorable decision wins over Doo Ho Choi and Artem Lobov. The MMA veteran is now 25-8 in sum, and 10-4 in the UFC.

What do you think the future holds for Cub Swanson?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/12/2017.