Cub
Swanson knows he has the ideal opportunity to ride off into the
sunset on a high note — but he isn’t closing the door on his mixed
martial arts career just yet.
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The 41-year-old
WEC veteran authored a memorable performance in the UFC
Tampa co-main event on Saturday night, as he knocked out
hometown favorite Billy
Quarantillo at the 1:36 mark of Round 3 following a
back-and-forth battle that garnered “Fight of the Night” honors. In
his post-fight interview, Swanson revealed that he had told his
wife beforehand that “this might be the last one.” However, he also
acknowledges that the fighting itch won’t go away completely.
“I’m always going to be tempted. We’ll see how I heal up,” Swanson
said at the post-fight press conference. “I’ve got three little
kids that are getting a little bit older now and definitely want my
attention more. I’ve got a bunch of fighters, my Team Bloodline, my
guys I manage and coach. I put a lot of effort into them and these
last couple of fights have really allowed me to show them how to do
it and not just talk about it. I was able to be about it and show
them, lead by example. I honestly am more excited to be a coach at
this point. I love this sport, and the nice thing about being on
the other side of the cage is I don’t go home with lumps and
bruises.
“For sure, that definitely could be a storybook ending, so it’s
going to have to be something exciting to get me motivated.”
Swanson initially considered walking away from the sport more than
a decade ago.
“My mom and my stepmom, who both are very close to me, begged me to
stop fighting in 2011 when I fractured my face and I could have
stopped then. I could have stopped at any moment, but I just always
felt like I had more to do,” he said. At this point, I feel like
I’ve done a lot and I’m proud of it, so like I said, it would have
to be something really exciting, so we’ll see what happens.”
The Palm Springs, California, native, has compiled a 30-14 mark
over the course of a tenure that began in 2004. Though he never
captured a title in the UFC and WEC, he enjoyed plenty of success
while emerging as a fan favorite over the years. His ledger
includes triumphs over the likes of Charles
Oliveira, Dustin
Poirier, Jeremy
Stephens, Tatsuya
Kawajiri and Darren
Elkins, among others. His 2016 triumph over Doo Ho Choi
at UFC 206 was enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame and remains one of
the highlights of his career.
“I mean, the Doo Ho Choi fight is hard to top,” Swanson said. “I
have so many fights that are special for different moments. People
don’t understand there’s so many things that happen in camps and in
life that you need to overcome, so there’s special fights for
different reasons, but for sure the Doo Ho Choi fight because I had
the fight of the year, I made the Hall of Fame because of it, and
then I found out I was going to be a father that night, so it’s
pretty hard to top.”
His most recent work also figures to rank among his top
performances when all is said and done. Whether it turns out to be
Swanson’s swan song remains to be seen.
“I try not to put too much on it because it’s ultimately my
decision and what I want to do,” Swanson said. “But my biggest
things for this fight is to just not be pressured or put the
pressure on myself to perform and be tense and just have this war.
I had a little bit of a war. I was trying to be fast and loose and
paint a picture and make it beautiful and something I could be
proud of, and if it was the last, something I could be proud of and
say, ‘I’m happy with that.’”