Former Ring of Combat welterweight champ Randy Brown returns to action at UFC 296 in December, the final PPV event of the year for the UFC.
It’s another big card for Brown, who has been on several of late, fighting in front of fans at events like UFC on ABC 5 and UFC 284.
“Maybe they see something. They know I’m never in a boring fight,” Brown told Cageside Press in a recent exclusive interview, asked about landing another high-profile gig. “I’m never in a boring fight, I always come to bring it, always come to try to finish the fight. So of course they’ve got to put me on those big cards.”
For years, Randy Brown struggled with cardio issue even when he was putting the effort in. As it turned out, symptoms he was experiencing while training suggested he wasn’t getting adequate oxygen flow — resulting in surgery to fix his nose. The result has been night and day.
“Bro, completely. I honestly did not know.” Brown pretty much downplayed the effect surgery might have when he heard his teammates talking about it, then learned first hand what a difference it really made. “When I did it, I was like ‘oh my God!’ This is really like a massive difference. I wish I’d did it years ago.”
Randy Brown will face Muslim Salikhov at UFC 296 next month, and Brown feels those who follow the sport closely will recognize the danger that match-up brings with it.
“For the hardcores and people who have been around, you know what it is. This is one of those guys, he was ranked at one point. 19-3, been around for a while, very dangerous striker, big finisher, he’s been knocking people out. Especially with that spinning hook kick. And I just think stylistically, with my style, that tough-and-go-y kind of style, it just makes for a banger.”
A banger would be right up Randy Brown’s alley. He got into the sport watching classic B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson fights, among others.
“I had this Renzo Gracie Academy in NYC, it was right down the street from where I was going to school. I was going to a little technical school there,” Brown called. “In between classes, I would just jump over there, seeing what it was about. Long story short, I started doing jiu-jitsu, getting in jiu-jitsu and after that, I just fell in love with fighting. Fell in love with mixed martial arts.”
Brown started seeing the likes of B.J. Penn and Joe Stevenson in action, and began to wonder how he would fare in fights with kicks and knees and jiu-jitsu and the like. He then met his Sensei, and it wasn’t long before his career got rolling. “And here I am today.”
Watch our full interview with UFC 296 welterweight Randy Brown above.
