Cub Swanson has revealed that he might be about to make a late-career drop down to the bantamweight division.
Often when a fighter switches weight it’s done in response to a losing streak, but in the 38-year-old Swanson’s case he’s coming off an impressive first round destruction of Darren Elkins just last week.
That leaves Swanson with a 3-1 record from his last four Octagon outings, having also KO’d Daniel Pineda and decisioned Kron Gracie in addition to suffering a TKO loss against Giga Chikadze.
So Swanson certainly doesn’t have to make the move, but after so many years fighting at featherweight the veteran likes the idea of having a fresh division and new set of opponents to take a run at.
“I had talked about maybe dropping to 135, just to switch it up, try something new. I know I can make it,” Swanson said after his TKO win over Elkins. “I don’t know how difficult it would be. This was one of the easier cuts I’ve had. I just feel like I’m naturally a little lighter than I used to be. I guess I’m just not holding on muscle like I was before. That’s a possibility.”
Swanson also revealed that the fighter he’d most like to face at 135lbs would, “probably be Urijah Faber”, who despite their long run in the sport have never faced off before.
In addition to that, Swanson says he also has one other ambition that he’s still yet to fulfill.
“The one thing that I would love to do still is they’re building a big arena, a 10,000-person arena, in Palm Springs,” Swanson said. “That’ll be done by the end of the year. If I can get the UFC to have a Fight Night in Palm Springs, I’d stick around for that for sure.”
