Swanson on UFC return against Edgar: ‘I thought I was gone’

Cub Swanson competed under the UFC banner for a very long time and took a risk by not signing a new contract with promotion before his fight with Brian Ortega. He was submitted in that bout, and no one was sure what his status was in the aftermath. Would he move onto another organization, or was the UFC going to be able to bring him back into the fold?

We have the answer now, as Swanson is booked in a rematch against Frankie Edgar at UFC Atlantic City.

But for a while there, Swanson was convinced that he was going somewhere else. As a guest on The MMA Hour, he explained his thought process over the last few months of uncertainty (via MMA Fighting):

“I love fighting for the UFC, it’s been awesome for me. But at the end of the day, it got to a point where I really thought that I wasn’t going to re-sign. I thought that OK, my time is done, it is what it is. For a few months, I thought I was done with the UFC.”

Swanson (25-8, 10-4 UFC) said that he was offered a new contract after the Ortega fight, but didn’t feel like it met his financial demands. After testing the waters with other promotions (he said “pretty much everybody” offered him a deal), it left a sour taste in his mouth:

“Some of the other companies were trying to play games and I didn’t appreciate that,” he said.

So when the UFC called again with a contract offer that met his standards, as long as he took the Edgar fight, he took it. And here we are.

“He gave me just a straight ass kicking,” Swanson said. “I owe him one.”

The two men will meet in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 128 on April 21st.