SI

Even as the headliner, Matt Brown gets little respect

That's the mindset Brown carries with him into the octagon. He's been in deep waters and survived, not always unscathed but ceaselessly pressing forward.

Jeff Wagenheim

Even as the headliner, Matt Brown gets little respect
Even as the headliner, Matt Brown gets little respect /
Matt Brown, left, and Erick Silva will go at it on Saturday in Brown's home state, Ohio.
Matt Brown, left, and Erick Silva will go at it on Saturday in Brown's home state, Ohio :: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Image/SI

That's the mindset Brown carries with him into the octagon. He's been in deep waters and survived, not always unscathed but ceaselessly pressing forward. Harkening back to four years ago, when he was mired in a losing run, Brown doesn't judge the fighter he was back then any more readily than he will the make a final assessment of what he's become. "Every day I go to the gym, I walk out a better fighter than when I walked in," he said. "So, yeah, I hope I'm dramatically better now than I was in 2010. And in another three or four years I'll be a dramatically better fighter than I am now. Or I'm not doing my job."

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Jeff Wagenheim
JEFF WAGENHEIM

Paradoxically, Jeff Wagenheim considers himself a pacifist (except when driving in traffic) but nonetheless writes about mixed martial arts, the world's most combative sport (other than driving in traffic). As a veteran of three decades in magazines and newspapers, he's a bit grayer than most who attend UFC fights, even along press row. (A fan watching an MMA media panel show recently referred to him as "that crazy hippie uncle," to which Jeff responds, "Groovy, man!") Wagenheim also has tackled pro football for SI.com, and writes about sports and the arts for The Boston Globe. When he's not on the road chasing the UFC, Jeff spends Sunday afternoons spinning Sleepy LaBeef and Boozoo Chavis records for a popular (but not pop) radio show in western Massachusetts.

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