Brendan Schaub is taking a walk down memory lane in reminiscing about his retirement from MMA.
Brendan Schaub is known more now for talking about fights than actually being in them, but back in his days with the UFC, he was on top of his game. Now that it has been seven years since he retired from the sport of mixed martial arts, Schaub is giving some insight on his departure from the UFC and how it all went down.
“I don’t know when these guys are gonna realise – this is a business. It is a cutthroat business. Professional sports? It is cut-f***ing-throat," Schaub said on the Below the Belt podcast (via Sportskeeda). UFC, NBA, MLB, it’s all like this, man. A lot are like this, unless you’re a big time dude, tip of the spear guy that was winning a million fights for them and making them all this money. When I retired, and I’d say I did pretty well in the UFC, when I retired I got an email that said ‘cool, just so you know if you ever come back we still own your ass’. It’s like, cool man, yeah, that’s all I got.”
This topic of the UFC parting ways with an email began most recently when longtime UFC fighter Kevin Lee was released from the organization. Lee stated that he was notified of his release by email. Schaub's experience was years ago, but it seems the UFC is still practicing these impersonal procedures.
Unlike Lee, Schaub had retired from the UFC, not been released. He fought in the promotion from 2009 to 2014. At that time, he was a staple of the heavyweight division and has faced some of the best fighters in that division, including Andrei Arlovski, Mirko Cro Cop, and Matt Mitrione. Schab has gone on to be very successful outside the Octagon and attributes these other skills as allowing him to be alright not returning to fighting.
"In fighting, you can’t have one foot in and one foot out, or else you’re going to get really hurt," Schaub said. "My heart wasn’t into it and I’d always wanted to do stand-up,” says Schaub. “It was never hard for me to walk away from fighting because it was very obvious what I should be doing. Most guys when they’re done, they don’t know where to put their energy, so I’m super fortunate.”
It is seen more now that current fighters will begin finding another outlet and business opportunities while still actively fighting. Schaub and other fighters turned commentators/personalities show that there is a way to keep close to the sport after fighting is over.
Are you surprised by the way Brendan Schaub's relationship with the UFC ended?