Mike Brown Will Not Be Retiring - New Deal
Posted on 05 Jul 2012
by MMAScoops.com Staff

Featherweight Mike Brown (26-8 MMA, 2-3 UFC) will not be retiring. Instead, he has signed a new five-fight deal with the UFC.

Brown, a former WEC featherweight champion, announced the news on his own website. He was previously considering retirement in May after years of injuries and fatigue.

He said: "The last couple of years were kind of rough on me. 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. Going in to the last fight with (Daniel) Pineda (at UFC 146 in Las Vegas) I was pretty certain that was going to be my last fight. 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."

He defeated Pineda 29-28 for all three judges for his second win in a row. He told reporters there that he still may retire, but has how changed his mind.

He added: "This fight felt different. 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."

He first fought in the UFC in April 2004, losing a lightweight fight to Genki Sudo. He then signed with the WEC with a 18-4 record, where he won the featherweight title from champion Urijah Faber at WEC 36. He defended the title twice with a submission win over Leonard Garcia and a "Fight of the Night" unanimous decision win over Faber in the rematch. At WEC 44, he lost to Jose Aldo in the second round. After his ten fight win streak after the second Faber bout, he went 4-4. He's now on his first win streak in three years.