Thirty-one-year-old Brendan Schaub was brutally stopped by Travis Browne this past Saturday night at UFC 181. It was Schaub’s second straight loss, and it was the fourth knockout loss of his 10-5 career. He was knocked out by Roy Nelson in The Ultimate Fighter season 10 Finale, and he’s also been stopped buy Big Nog, Ben Rothwell, and now Browne. All four of those knockouts have taken place over the last five years Schaub has been fighting in the UFC. He’s also knocked out several guys in his career, and when you’re that size and the leather is flying, more often than not, someone is going down.
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan is a friend of Schaub’s and appeared on his Fighter and the Kid podcast following the fight. Co-host Bryan Callen was also on. Rogan, as a friend, basically tells Schaub that he’s not an elite fighter, will never be champion, and needs to get out while the gettin’ is good, as they say. If he keeps going at this pace Rogan is worried about the brain trauma his friend could face and lovingly gives him his honest opinion about the fight and Schaub’s future.
The conversation is interesting for a number of reasons. It’s a conversation more fighters need to hear from their friends and coaches. We all know those fighters who stayed around too long. And because MMA is such a relatively young sport, we still have not seen the full effects of what is to come for many of these fighters. It’s a serious talk about the dangers of fighting and head trauma coming from one friend to another. Schaub doesn’t entirely agree with Rogan and it makes for an entertaining discussion, albeit at times uncomfortable.
Schaub has indicated he doesn’t want to go out on a loss, so we’ll have to wait and see whether he takes Rogan’s advice. Listen in to the conversation and let’s hear your thoughts about it.
Someone who obviously listened to the podcast had a little fun at Schaub’s expense on Wikipedia by adjusting his fight record to 10-6 (notice most recent fight at top):
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