While Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's decision victory over Keith Jardine and Shane Carwin's first-round knockout of Gabriel Gonzaga grabbed most of the headlines coming out of UFC 96, Matt Brown's win over Pete Sell also attracted its fair share of attention.
|
|
| Brown's MMA talent helped him correct his path. (UFC) |
For Brown, the strong showing vs. Sell not only improved his lifetime UFC record to a respectable 3-1, it also moved him further up the ladder in the stacked welterweight division.
Brown was first introduced to UFC fans during his turn on the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter. Through the course of the series, viewers were showed a portrait of a dedicated fighter focused on success. While that portrayal was certainly accurate, it hasn't always been the case.
On the show, Brown presented himself as a quiet and reserved type. While cast mates such as Jeremy May and Jesse Taylor seemingly did whatever they could to draw attention to themselves, Brown flew under the radar.
Because of this, TUF producers were unable to discover his dark past. That included seeking out a career in professional fighting as a salvation from a self-destructive lifestyle.
Plagued by substance abuse in his teen years, Brown revealed during an exclusive interview with CBSSports.com that he sought out MMA as a way to escape a dangerous path that offered little future.
"I was doing a lot of drugs and alcohol and just partying a lot," Brown said. "I needed a new hobby, so to speak. There were just a lot of negative things in my life and I needed to find something positive. I fell in love with the sport right away so it worked out perfectly."
Brown makes no excuses about his indiscretions. He claims he had a fairly normal childhood and blames his past vices on youth.
"I was just young and dumb," said Brown, now 28. "It wasn't like I grew up in a crazy, rough childhood. It wasn't like I was beaten as a kid. I didn't get involved with drugs and alcohol as a way to deal with some tragedy. It was just my own stupid decision. [The drug use] started out small and it just got to a point where it became out of hand."
While MMA has proven to be Brown's savior, he did not abandon the partying lifestyle completely once he began training at an affiliate school of Jorge Gurgel's in Columbus, Ohio.
"It took me a real long time [to pull away]," he said. "When I first started training, I wouldn't drink for a week before my fight and that was the extent of my 'clean time.' Initially, I just started fighting for fun, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I had a future in this sport and that I could possibly make something out of this. At that point, I made the decision that it was worth it to commit to it 100 percent."
Committing to MMA didn't pay immediate dividends. Much like Brown's journey was unconventional, his entrance into the UFC was as equally unorthodox.
