The newest edition to the UFC’s 2022 Hall of Fame class was as much of a surprise to Cub Swanson as it was to the rest of the MMA world.
The promotion at UFC 273 stating that Swanson’s famous brawl against Doo Ho Choi was to be honored in the Fight Wing of UFC’s Hall of Fame this summer, is now confirmed. Choi was defeated by Swanson in three rounds at UFC .
Swanson, 38, reflected on the honor on Wednesday’s episode of The MMA Hour, admitting that he had “no idea” the news was coming prior to its unveiling on the UFC 273 broadcast.
” It was quite funny,” Swanson stated on The MMA Hour . My wife Kenda was there, and she worked the event. So I was there with all my kids, from Thursday through Sunday. Because there are so many kids in my community, I decided to take the children along. They were having a great time eating candy and me and my brother became exhausted from helping. He fell asleep on the couch, and I was sitting there and I was like, ‘Man, I should take a shower before the main card starts. I’m getting tired.’
“I got a random text, and then I started getting more texts, and then my wife said, ‘Hey, they’re doing like a thing on you,’ because she was sitting front row. So I turned it back on and I was just kind of blown away. I didn’t expect it. I got emotional a little. It was nice .”
Swanson said that first congratulatory text was actually from former UFC commentator and fellow WEC veteran Brian Stann. Swanson did not have Stann’s number at the time so it seemed like a misinterpretation. He received a note from Stann congratulating him for his Hall of Fame induction. The texts continued to pour in.
“I was a little bit emotional,” Swanson said. “I just feel like I’ve put so much into this sport, and I’m just trying to be an advocate of the sport literally from the day I started. This sport, it still wasn’t popular, it hadn’t been on TV yet. I was a little ahead of The Ultimate Fighter, the original one, and so when I started fighting, people assumed that I was still getting into trouble, that I had been getting into trouble when I was a youth, and I had to educate people myself, like, ‘No, it’s not cage fighting. It’s mixed martial arts. This is mixed martial arts.
“I’ve almost put two decades into this sport, and 15 years at the highest level. It was a huge honor to be recognized. Like the sport was saying “Thank you” .”
Swanson and Choi’s fight is a timeless classic. The two featherweights traded heavy leather for 15 minutes of non-stop action, combining for 209 landed strikes, with each man coming precariously close to finishing the other multiple times. By the end, Swanson stood victorious in a bout that garnered a slew of “Fight of the Year” plaudits for 2016.
“The funny thing is, the strangest thing about that [fight] that always sticks out to me was the way people looked at me [afterward] when I walked out of the octagon,” Swanson said. “Because they were kind of carrying me and kind of helping me down the walkway, and people were trying to grab me, but I just remember all of the UFC employees, all the staff from the arena — I just remember them staring at me in the weirdest way. Just kind of like, jaw-dropped, looking at me. And I didn’t get it, because it was just a fight, you know?
” I knew that I gave all I had but it was hard to understand why. Like if somebody was super famous [who] walked through a room and people weren’t expecting to see them, like that kind of vibe. It was the strangest post-fight walkout, when I tried to return to my room to catch my breath. But the way everyone looked at me as I walked into the room made it seem weird. Like, what’s going on?’ And then it didn’t really make sense until later — like, I had everyone’s attention.
“I think it just was the perfect storm, the way that fight played out,” Swanson continued.
” For me it is so much more at multiple levels. As I said, it was that night that I realized I wanted to become a father. So it was the biggest crowd I’ve ever fought in front of, it was a back and forth fight. A lot of fans tell me if they’re trying to get somebody to watch MMA for the first time, that that’s a fight that they put on for them. So I’m not surprised that they’re putting the fight in, but yeah, I guess I’m surprised it was this soon, but I’m thankful.”
Swanson recently signed a new four-fight deal with the UFC that he suspect could represent his final run before hanging up his gloves for good. Although he never competed for a WEC or UFC title over the course of his 15 years under the Zuffa umbrella, “Killer Cub” was a still top contender for most of his career, and always resonated with the fan base in a special way as an athlete with one of the most exciting fighting styles in the sport.
Of course, it takes two to tango as well. Swanson said Wednesday that he hasn’t heard from his old UFC 206 dance partner since the promotion’s announcement, but he hopes to share a moment with Choi before the UFC Hall of Fame ceremony this summer in Las Vegas.
” I would love to see him there. Swanson spoke highly of Choi, saying that he would love to meet him and shake his hands.
“I know there’s a language barrier there, but there’s no language barrier between respect.”
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