'Fulfilled' Cub Swanson reflects on 22-year MMA career

Cub Swanson enjoyed a memorable farewell at UFC 327. | Getty/UFC

Cub Swanson went out on a high note.

The 42-year-old Palm Springs, California, native wrapped up a 22-year mixed martial arts career at UFC 327, where he defeated Nate Landwehr via technical knockout 4:06 into Round 1 of their featherweight clash at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Saturday night. Swanson made it look easy against the former M-1 Global champion, dropping him twice en route to earning the stoppage.

“I wasn't expecting that,” Swanson told the UFC. “I was really worried about him picking up the pace late in the fight. And I was expecting him to to come after me a little bit more. And I was trying to calm it down. And so once I kind of realized that he wasn't having a lot of success, I was like, all right, I need to I need to start pulling the trigger.”

Farewell fights don’t always go as planned, but with his family in attendance, Swanson couldn’t have scripted a better ending to an accomplished MMA career.

“I feel fulfilled. Fulfilled is the is the right term,” Swanson said. “I was so stressed out. I wanted to have a good send off. I just wanted to have a good performance I could be proud of. And then to to do it like that, to have my family here, have everything. I feel blessed.”

Swanson squared off against a who’s who of the sport over the course of his WEC and UFC career. His December 2016 victory over Doo Ho Choi was enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame’s “Fight Wing,” and he also earned noteworthy wins against the likes of Charles Oliveira, Dustin Poirier, Jeremy Stephens, Tatsuya Kawajiri and Darren Elkins, to name a few. Swanson was on the verge of title contention in the UFC after compiling a six-fight win streak from 2012 to 2014 before a loss to Frankie Edgar derailed his momentum.

More than just wins and losses, Swanson is proud to have been able to inspire and motivate people he encountered along the way.

“For me, it's very personal. I'm so grateful to have been an inspiration to some and to kind of mentor people and inspire people. But ultimately, this was my journey and I'm proud of where it brought me to,” he said.

“It takes a lot of a lot of pain and a lot of low points. But when you get through on the other side, it's it's pretty amazing what you can accomplish as a human.”

Growing and Maturing

Earlier in his career, Swanson had tunnel vision when it came to fighting. As he matured, he found that he was able to balance more aspects of his life.

“When I was coming up and I had nothing, I was so focused on myself and so selfish,” Swanson said. “And that's what you’ve got to do. You’ve got to sacrifice. But along the way, I learned to become a strong enough person to be able to handle being a father and a husband and a coach and a manager and a business owner and all these things while still competing. That shows like the strength of what I've become as a human. That's what I'm proud of.” As he bids farewell to the UFC, Swanson demonstrated that he still had something left in the tank by winning three of his last four Octagon appearances. With that being said, Swanson is still looking forward life as a retired fighter.

Peace [is what retirement looks like.] This job is stressful, man,” he said. “I'm always like, ‘Why do I do this?’ I want to have a more mellow life. I enjoy coming to the fights and getting some excitement here and there. But man, 22 years I've been doing this. So somebody should talk me out of it.”