It will be a battle of career comebacks Saturday night in San Jose when Matt “The Immortal” Brown takes on “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler in the main event on FOX.
Brown, the welterweight with the longest win streak, is just one more win away from a title shot, according to UFC president Dana White.
“I’m having the longest win streak in my career,” Brown told The Post on Thursday. “Robbie may have one-punch knockout power, and yeah, he’s an explosive athlete, but it’s nothing I haven’t already seen before.”
Brown’s win streak quietly began back in February 2012. He was coming off a loss by guillotine choke to Seth Baczynski, a fighter he likely would demolish in his current form.
He started the streak with a second-round finish of Chris Cope, and ever since he’s kept on winning — in violent fashion. Brown’s impressive run has cemented his reputation as the dark house of the 170-pound weight class and one of the most incredible comeback stories in UFC history.
After nearly dying of a heroin overdose as a young man, Brown developed a nasty addiction to painkillers.
“I don’t think there’s a fear I’ll go back to that life,” Brown, now 33, said in a 2012 interview with Yahoo Sports. “I still drink sometimes, maybe once or twice a year, but I can control it. I can do it for a night and then be done for it. I’m not going back.
“Having gone through what I have, if that’s not enough motivation for me to stay away from drugs, then I don’t know what is.”
Brown’s UFC career began with mixed results – he’d win some, he’d get submitted in others. But he was never knocked out and always showed a kind of durability and promise.
He returns to the cage Saturday to take on another fighter riding the crest of an impressive career comeback.
Lawler debuted in UFC in 2002 as a fresh-faced 20 year-old, and like Brown, his early career had its ups and downs.
Twelve years in, Lawler is now a certified top five welterweight after knocking out Josh Koscheck and Jake Ellenberger. Lawler almost won the belt in a close title fight against current champion Johny Hendricks back in March.
Both men seem have come into their own as mixed martial artists in the latter stages of their careers. The remarkable comebacks now get put to the test — against each other.