I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with "The Immortal" shortly after his first round dismantling, of UFC veteran Pete "Drago" Sell at UFC 96 in Columbus, Ohio. Matt is a tough fighter, and has improved a lot since his time on The Ultimate Fighter. He is in a stacked WW division, but is looking to make his way up the division and will probably knock a few more guys out on his way to the top.

Mike: First off, I got to ask what your entrance music was for this fight... I need to put that song on my Ipod asap.
Matt: Its on my myspace, I don’t have the cd though… it’s Hank Williams Jr - Id love to knock you out.

Mike: That was one of the most fitting entrances ever, I loved it.
Matt: Haha thanks.

Mike: Ok, let’s get onto the fight with Pete Sell...what were your thoughts on the way it went down.
Matt: Fuck...It was a great fight, you know...I mean I don’t really know what to say. I was pretty happy with the fight, and it was an exciting fight. You were there man, you saw it.

Mike: It was a really good fight man, were you shocked at all… that Sell went down so quickly?
Matt: No, not really. I know I hit hard, and Pete Sell is a tough guy, but he’s been around for ever and always comes in there and does the exact same thing. Kind of like when Sanchez said that Joe Stevenson hadn’t really evolved much as a fighter… it’s the same thing with Sell. He came out in this fight and did the same thing he did when he fought Phil Baroni at UFC 51. So I was smart enough to go back and watch those fights, and look for those mistakes.

Mike: Could you tell us a little bit about the stoppage, and what was going through your head… when it was restarted?
Matt: Well I thought the fight was over when he stopped it... and when he told us to keep going it made me mad. I was just like "Fuck, I'm gonna kill this Fucker" .. haha.

Mike: Why do you think he let the fight go on as long as he did?
Matt: I've heard a few things, like how they had the early stoppage in the Riley vs Nelson fight, and they might have been trying to make up for that. I didn’t get to see that fight though, so I don’t know if that was the case or not. Maybe Yves knew Pete, and knew he was a tough guy and could take some punches and was giving him some time... or it might have just been a mistake. He's a good ref. and he has taken a lot of shit about this from people, and from me. And sorry I keep cussing so much, haha, but he's got a tough job, and doesn’t deserve all the shit he has gotten over this. A lot of people, well not the fans… but the promoters/doctors/refs/etc... would much rather see a fight stopped early, then late for the safety of us fighters.

Mike: So you are coming off of 2 big wins, and a controversial decision loss... what’s next for Matt Brown.
Matt: I don’t have any idea. I mean the UFC are probably gonna give me another tough fight, the whole division is tough now... but I haven’t given it much thought yet, it’s still a little too soon to think about it. I just want to get another exciting fight, against a tough fighter.

Mike: Is there anyone out there you would like to fight, or are you up for anyone?
Matt: I'd like to fight everybody pretty much. Just someone who will get me on the main card, put on an exciting fight and get me some exposure.

Mike: How about Amir, would you like a rematch with him?
Matt: That one would be a tough fight to take. Obviously I want to prove to myself that I can beat anyone that has beaten me in the past... but he's a good friend of mine. I had to fight him on the show when we were friends, and we are even closer friends now. I'm not really down with fighting friends, but what I'd probably do is sit down with Amir and we would figure it out together... but I wouldn’t except the fight without talking to him about it first.

Mike: That would be tough to fight a friend... could you tell us what you think TUF has done for your career?
Matt: Haha it has done everything for my career. Before I got on the show I was thinking about stopping fighting... or at least just making it a hobby. But after I got on the show I was able to start training full-time, I was able to drop everything else, which I did before, but its a lot harder when you have no money, I got the fight with Arroyo on the finale, and its just went on from there. I think my improvement since the show has shown, and people can see I am not the same fighter that was on The Ultimate Fighter, and I am definitely not the same fighter from before the show.

Mike: The Immortal is a pretty cool nickname; could you tell us how that started? And also I heard that wasn’t your first choice?
Matt: Yeah that’s true... it’s tattooed on my stomach, and I got that done for personal reasons... so when they would ask for a nickname at events I would say "the bruiser" or "bad ass" or something like that. So basically I would just give them some crap… but then Eric Cole starting calling me "The Immortal" and people were like "That’s a pretty badass nickname" plus it was tattooed on me, so it stuck.

Mike: Out of everyone you have trained with, sparred, fought… etc. who has hit the hardest?
Matt: Man... who has hit the hardest. I'd say it’s probably some guys you might have never heard of, and I don’t know if he hits the hardest or just caught me with the best shot, but it was a guy named George Bush who’s also from Ohio... he actually fought Vinny Magalheas before he was on the show and stuff. He's a heavyweight though… so either him or Chris Wells hits the hardest.

Mike: You get to play matchmaker for a day. What’s the one fight you would love to set up and watch go down?
Matt: I don’t know, that’s a good question man... I could give you a whole fight card, but let me narrow it down to one fight... shit, I will say Rickson Gracie vs St. Pierre.

Mike: And the last one... if they made a movie about your life, who do you think they should get to play Matt Brown?
Matt: Brad Pitt.... Duh... shit that was an easy question (laughing).

Mike: So anything you wanna close with?
Matt: Thanks to all the supporters and the people who believed in me... and a big fuck you to those who didn’t believe... also thanks to Tapout and the rest of my sponsors!!

Mike: All right man, thanks for the time, and I look forward to seeing you back in the cage.
Matt: thanks man.