UFC 201: Matt Brown says first time offenders should get lifetime bans for drug test failures

In just a few hours, UFC 201 will kick off in Atlanta, Georgia. The card features some excellent match-ups with lots of crowd pleasing fighters to bolster the promotion’s latest pay-per-view offering. One of the more intriguing bouts on the card features Number 8 ranked Matt Brown taking on the heavy-hitting Jake Ellenberger in a welterweight duel.

Both men have hit a rough spot in their careers, with Ellenberger seeming a little worse for wear. However, both have only lost to a murderer’s row in the division, making the match-up not quite as lopsided as some initially thought when the bout was first booked. This is a detail that has not been overlooked by fan favorite, “The Immortal” Matt Brown.

In an interview with the Three Amigos Podcast earlier this week, Brown discussed the particulars of his Octagon appointment with Ellenberger, as well as the hot button topic du jour, USADA drug test failures and tainted supplements.

The booking of Brown and Ellenberger came as a surprise to many, as “The Juggernaut” has dropped 5 of his last 6 contests. If you dig a little deeper, and compare the two by their last 11 contests, Jake has dropped 6 of those 11, was finished in 4 and suffered TKOs in 3. Brown, on the other hand, has only lost 3 of the 11, and only been finished in 1, a submission to Demian Maia this past May.

Brown feels that despite the losses, Ellenberger has plenty of room for growth and just hasn’t put all his puzzle pieces together yet. The fight booking is not a mismatch in his view, and didn’t register with him as anything other than his next career task to complete. While complimentary of his opponent, and realizing there may likely come a day when Jake is back on the upswing, that chain of events won’t be starting tonight.

“I wasn’t surprised by the booking. I never really analyzed it that deeply, I guess. Maybe I should have thought about it, I don’t know. Jake maybe hasn’t lived up to his expectations, but I think those expectations are there for a reason.

There’s a reason why he’s had the hype behind him and there’s a reason why they’ve always put him against really tough guys. It’s because he is that good. I think he can compete against the Top 10 or Top 5 of the welterweight division. He just hasn’t put it all together, but I believe there will be a day when he does put it all together, it’s just …

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