Matt Brown is hoping to return at UFC 216, would gladly accept a rematch with “Cowboy”

Fight fans have not had the luxury of watching UFC welterweight slugger Matt Brown compete inside the octagon since December of last year.

“The Immortal” decided to take some time off from the sport following his first career knockout loss which came to Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone at UFC 206.

Brown, who was most recently seen coaching on Team Dillashaw for Season 25 of The Ultimate Fighter, joined host Kinch on BJPENN Radio to discuss his recent time away from the sport and when fight fans can expect to see him back in the cage.

“I’m not rushing but I am looking at probably October. Well if I can get an opponent. I have been talking to Sean Shelby and we are just looking for an opponent. You know half of getting a fight is finding someone to fight. It looks like that is probably going to be the timetable but I don’t know if it is going to work out with opponents and everything. I should hear something back very soon actually.”

Kinch asked Brown if he was eyeing a particular date and venue in October or if he was just hoping to fight sometime that month.

“We talked about October 7 (UFC 216), obviously I can’t announce anything because I don’t have an opponent. But yea, it is supposed to be October 7. I am just waiting for an opponent.”

With Brown being inactive for quite some time now, Kinch asked “The Immortal” if he was interested in taking a tune up fight at UFC 216 or if he had his sites set on a particular ranked opponent.

“I guess I’ve never really been to picky about it. So I guess I would take pretty much any opponent. But like you say, the rankings have changed a lot since I last fought and so I’ll just kind of play it by ear. Whatever comes up I will pretty much take.”

When asked if he thought a big win or two could have him right back in UFC’s welterweight title picture Brown responded with the following.

“I don’t see why not.”

Brown explained his decision to take some time off from competition following his most recent loss to Donald Cerrone which occurred at UFC 206 via knockout.

“I have been itching to get back in there from day one. You know the day after my last fight. I was ready to get back in there. But I just had to take a little bit of time off and do some thinking. I had to consider what is it that makes me want to get in there so bad. You know is it just a money thing. You know I don’t want to get in there and just fight for money. That (my last fight) was the first knockout (loss) I ever had in my life, inside or outside of the gym. So I guess I had really taken for granted that ‘it’ happening was actually a possibility. So when it actually came to fruition and I am hanging out with my kids afterwards, I had to think ok what is the risk vs reward here and what am I doing? So I really had to look at myself and what my motivations were. I have that all straightened out now and I am ready to get back in there.”

Brown is ready to throw down with anybody at this point and believes that if he can string together a couple of wins, he matches up very well with current division title holder Tyron Woodley.

“I am ready to fight anybody. You know there are a lot of good matchups out there for me right now. Obviously I have to get a few wins together here before worrying about fighting someone like (Tyron) Woodley. With that said, I think I matchup good with Woodley. I feel like I’m a lot like Rory MacDonald. He (Rory) showed the blueprint on how to beat Woodley. But yea man I am pretty much ready to fight anybody.”

He continued:

“I know that Cowboy (Cerrone) was trying to get on the UFC 216 fight card. I told Sean (Shelby) that I would gladly take that fight. You know if he really wants on that card I will be there. Other than that, like you said the landscape changes so much with guys getting wins or getting hurt. I really don’t know who is all available to fight.”

Matt Brown’s most recent win came at UFC 189 in July of 2015 where he submitted Tim Means with a first-round guillotine choke.

Would you like to see a rematch between Matt Brown and Donald Cerrone take place at UFC 216 on October 7 in Las Vegas? Sound off PENN Nation!