Cub Swanson knows he has the ideal opportunity to ride off into the sunset on a high, but he’s not closing the door on his mixed martial arts career just yet.
The 41-year-old WEC veteran lost his memory in the co-main event of UFC Tampa on Saturday night, knocking out local favorite Billy Quarantillo at 1:36 of the third round after a back-and-forth battle. He showed a performance that will leave a lasting impression. Won the honor of “Fight of the Night”. In a postgame interview, Swanson said he told his wife beforehand that this might be his last time. But he also admits that the fight itch hasn’t completely gone away.
“I’ll always be tempted. Let’s see how I recover,” Swanson said in the postgame press conference. “I have three small children who are getting a little older and definitely want to develop my interest further. , I have guys that I coach. I put a lot of effort into them and in the last few games I’ve talked to them about it as well as how to do it. I was able to show them how to do it. I was serious about it and I was able to show them by example. Honestly, I’m even more excited to be a coach at this point. loves this sport. And the good thing about being on the other side of the cage is that you don’t go home with a lump or a bruise.
“Certainly, it definitely could be the end of the story, so it has to be something exciting to motivate me.”
Swanson first considered leaving the sport more than a decade ago.
“My mother and stepmother are both very close to me, but when I broke my face in 2011, they begged us to stop fighting, but they could have stopped fighting then. They could have stopped at any time. “I was able to do it, but I always felt like there was more to do,” he said. At the moment, I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m proud of it, so like I said, it should be really exciting, so let’s see what happens. ”
The Palm Springs, Calif., native compiled a 30-14 record during his tenure that began in 2004. Although he never won a title in the UFC or WEC, he emerged as a fan favorite while enjoying much success. year. His record includes wins over Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Jeremy Stevens, Tatsuya Kawajiri, and Darren Elkins. His victory over Choi Doo Ho at UFC 206 in 2016 earned him a place in the UFC Hall of Fame and remains one of the highlights of his career.
“I mean, it’s hard to top the Choi Doo-ho fight,” Swanson said. “There are a lot of special matches at different moments. People don’t understand that there are a lot of things you have to overcome in camp and in life, so there are special matches for different reasons, but Choi Doo-ho I definitely had the game of the year, so I had the best game. That got me into the Hall of Fame, but I knew that night I was going to be a father, so it’s going to be better than that. It’s quite difficult.”
I would say that his latest work also ranks among his best performances after all. Whether that turns out to be Swanson’s swan song remains to be seen.
“It’s ultimately my decision and it’s what I want to do, so I try not to put too much weight into it,” Swanson said. “But the most important thing for me in this fight is to not put any pressure on, not to put pressure on myself, to perform well, to be nervous and just keep fighting this fight. A little bit of a war. I tried to paint quickly, slowly, and create something beautiful and something I could be proud of, and if it was the last time, I would be proud to say, “I’m satisfied with this.” .”
