Cub Swanson: Portrait Of A Beloved, Respected Fighter (2024)

He was unsure he’d done enough to merit the nod over his Canadian opponent, but, more than anything, the veteran featherweight was wrestling with the mix of emotions that come with holding yourself to a lofty standard and giving everything of yourself time and again in an effort to live up to them.

“I’ll admit I was having some tough times backstage because I knew I was ready, I was just afraid of performing, and I literally was in tears backstage,” said Swanson, who returns to action this weekend against fellow all-action featherweight Andre “Touchy” Fili as part of the UFC 303 preliminary card at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “That was a first for me.

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“I just wanted so bad to go out there and perform, which I feel like I did; I had a fun fight. My opponent was trickier than I expected, and I made the adjustments, fought smart, did what I had to do.

“When I went back and I watched it, I definitely felt like I won, especially after talking to everybody,” continued Swanson, who earned 29-28 scores from all three judges, with two giving him the first and third, and the other the final two frames in the close, competitive bout with Dawodu. “In that moment, I wasn’t having that back-and-forth conversation with my team in the corner about who won each round, so in my mind, it was too close, and I felt like I needed to get the finish in that last round, and I fell short of that, which is why I felt like I lost.

“When it was all said and done, I had put so much pressure on myself to perform that camp. Camp was tough, and the way I was feeling all camp — I was having a lot of doubts, feeling like I had to get away. Also, my back had been hurting for a really long time, so with all those things, it was a tough situation, and I was able to gut through it, so I was happy with how it all worked out.”

“My room is growing — I have so much talent in the room right now,” he added with a smile, clearly proud of what he’s helping to build and the leadership he’s offering fighters like Rafa Garcia, Danny Silva, and Dan Argueta. “I’m really blessed to have the guys (I have). I feel really good about the guys in the room pushing me, and then the way I run my guys, I need them to step up and own their careers, be able to have the reins, and so for them to be able to turn around, me test their Fight IQ to help me prepare for this fight, make them push me, is making me feel really confident about how it’s going to affect their careers long term.”

For Swanson, everything is a teaching opportunity.

After spending the better part of the last year at the helm, taking a turn as the one preparing for battle allows “Killer Cub” to show that he practices what he’s been preaching in the training room as he follows the same blueprint he’s previously laid out for the others when they’ve been in the role.

But it’s also about bringing the crew to Fight Week in Las Vegas and having them around throughout the week. While it helps the veteran competitor keep things loose and fun as he ramps up to Saturday night, it also continues to expose the emerging talents with significantly less reps in the UFC to the full scope of what a pay-per-view fight week entails.

“For 17, 18 years of this career, it’s been me, me, me, and that’s become less and less with having kids and being married,” said Swanson. “Now having so many fighters that I’ve helped come up, make it to the UFC, helped in their careers, I just know they have so much more ahead of them, and it makes me happy and excited to be a part of their journey, and it means a lot that they’re here at this point of my journey.

“At this point, I’m becoming more of the father figure, the older fighter, the older brother — whatever you want to call it — and I’m accepting that role. It makes it smooth for me. It makes it easy.

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“I don’t need to be fighting three times a year, four times a year,” he added, smiling. “Right now, it’s once a year, and it’s my therapy. At the same time, I think it’s important for me to show all the young guys that I work with that I practice what I preach; everything I tell you to do, I’m doing, too, so let’s get it.”

When he makes the walk this weekend, Swanson will do so with a picture in his mind of what he needs to do inside the Octagon, with earning a victory over Fili only a part of the equation.

“It’s a good problem to have, and I accept it, but it’s not easy,” he added.

A fragment of that desire to live up the image people have in their heads of a what a Cub Swanson fight looks like each and every time comes from wanting to make sure his contributions to this sport that he’s poured his heart and soul into for the last 20 years are properly noted.

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“I only know how to fight one way, and that’s with my heart on my sleeve, trying to throw wild combinations, make you think, attack from all angles,” said Swanson, who has always been inventive and fluid inside the cage, brandishing an unmistakable style all his own. “I feel like if we talk legacy, that’s something I don’t get enough credit for.

“I’d have to say that with how many different fighters come in now and they’re doing sliding kicks or anything, I definitely feel like I’m one of the ones that pushed that — to be exciting, to do crazy stuff, to have fun in there — and that’s always going to be my style.”

Honestly, Swanson doesn’t get the credit or respect he deserves — at least not from a large enough segment of the fight-loving population — but as you saw when he got into a little back-and-forth on Twitter with a fellow fighter recently, those that know their history were quick to make it clear that he is highly respected and someone whose contributions to this sport are appreciated and undeniable.

And so, this weekend, Swanson will carry that pressure on his shoulders into the Octagon once more, competing in front of a large crowd for the first time in nearly five years, eager to deliver the kind of performance people have come to expect from the man they call “Killer Cub.”

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“The pressure is good; you just can’t let it break you,” offered Swanson. “I tell people, ‘If you let that pressure come on you, a superpower happens — your adrenaline pops — and you want that, you need that, because your opponent could be having that superpower.’

“I get the nerves because it’s gonna be different,” he said of competing at T-Mobile Arena this weekend. “It’s been so long since I’ve been able to do that, and I don’t know if when I walk out into that big arena whether it’s going to make it easier for me or harder. I don’t know; I just have to keep visualizing it and knowing that once I get going, I’m good; let that superpower kick in, go out there, and have a great performance.

“I owe that to the fans and myself to go out there and have a great performance.”

Truth be told, Swanson doesn’t owe anything to anyone but himself, but the fact that he doesn’t feel that way is why people love him so much and can’t wait to see him back in action this weekend.