Matt Brown talks the game plan against Ben Saunders, a little slap bass ahead of UFC 245.
Las Vegas, NV — Matt Brown very much is immortal in MMA at this point, a legend of the sport. He’s also an incredibly talented guy, with a number of ventures outside his in-cage career. Plus some guitar playing, and now, bass.
Cageside Press caught up with Brown (21-6) ahead of his return fight at UFC 245 against Ben Saunders. Now 38, Brown is stepping into the octagon for the first time since a 2017 demolition of Diego Sanchez. His return bout was originally supposed to come against Carlos Condit, a violence fan’s dream.
Condit, however, was forced to pull out. In came Saunders. “I just emailed Sean [Shelby] and said ‘Hey I’m ready,'” Brown replied when asked how the fight came together. The UFC matchmaker came back with Ben Saunders. “I generally don’t even look at the name. I see the e-mail and say ‘alright, let’s go.'”
Well, maybe that’s changed just a little. “I do look at the names these days. I don’t know if I’d ever say no, though,” he admitted.
As for his game plan, that much hasn’t changed, really. “I plan on knocking him out and winning. A great fight’s cool and all, but the win is number one. I’m here for blood, I’m here to win this fight and beat his ass.” Something fight fans will definitely be down with.
Brown also feels he’s on top of juggling his fighting career, and life outside the octagon. “All’s good man. I keep a clear mind and keep everything consolidated and compartmentalized. My focus has been solely on training for this fight.”
“I’m prepped, I’m ready, and feeling as good as I ever have,” he added.
When he walks out at UFC 245 in Las Vegas, Brown fully expects to come out to The Immortal — a song written by Hatebreed frontman Jamey Jasta specifically for him. That’s an honor not many athletes ever get. But it’s a song that, a few years back, was yanked from the UFC’s allowed line-up after CNN misidentified the group as a white supremacist band.
“There was a CNN thing a long time ago that they did about White Supremacy, like the hate band groups with the shaved heads and stuff. They mentioned Hatebreed in there, which is exactly the opposite of that,” recalled Brown. CNN would later print a retraction. “Hatebreed is the most positive band in the world, they don’t have a single thing to do with any of that scene. But they got lumped in by CNN.”
The UFC, not knowing any better, then issued the edict: no Hatebreed songs. Luckily, cooler heads (or at least more knowledgeable ones) would prevail. After all, said Brown, the band features “probably the most inspirational lyrics in music history I would say.”
Brown’s also a musician himself, though he admits perhaps not one good enough to be in a band. Still, he’s gone from guitar to bass recently. “I like doing a lot of the slap bass,” he said. “The pick too, but the slap is so much funner.”
Watch our full interview with Matt Brown ahead of UFC 245 above!