"That was probably the final nail in the coffin" - Matt Brown discloses real reason which pushed him into retirement from UFC career

Matt Brown recently opened up about his decision to announce his retirement rather than compete in one final UFC bout. The MMA veteran officially put an end to his 18-year career, with the majority of it being in the octagon.

'The Immortal' last competed at UFC on ABC 4, where he earned a first-round knockout over Court McGee. The win also earned him a Performance of the Night bonus, which was his third consecutive post-fight bonus.

During his appearance on today's episode of The MMA Hour, the 43-year-old brought up that he expressed interest in fighting Jim Miller at UFC 300 and made every attempt to ensure it happened. Brown mentioned that when it failed to materialize, he took it as a sign to retire. He said:

"My mind was set on UFC 300 and I thought that I had all the pieces in place to make it happen. Jim Miller was talking about it, I was talking about it. I knew they were gonna get Jim Miller on the card...I was literally training for that fight and then it didn't happen...That was probably the final nail in the coffin [for retirement], where I was like, alright, nothing else really gets me that excited."

Check out Matt Brown's comments below:

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Matt Brown describes what has changed about him since retiring

Matt Brown opened up and described what changed about him since retiring from the UFC and MMA as a whole.

'The Immortal' was candid about the emotions that fighters go through when their career comes to an end. During the aforementioned appearance, he mentioned that a piece of him died when he officially announced his retirement as an active fighter. He said:

"A piece of you dies...That's a gigantic piece of my identity...There's certainly a huge ego component to it. All of the admiration, all the love, the attention that you get when you are going into a fight. You know, all that's gonna be gone now...As much as it died, I killed it myself."

Check out Matt Brown's full comments below: