Interview: UFC’s Randy Brown excited for long-awaited fight with ‘Cowboy’ Oliveira

Just days before ‘Rudeboy’ Randy Brown’s scheduled fight with Alex Oliveira in February, the Jamaican welterweight tested positive for the coronavirus. After a 10-day quarantine, Brown was back in the gym and campaigning for a rebooking against ‘Cowboy’.

Eventually UFC matchmakers rescheduled that bout for UFC 261 on Saturday, April 24, at the Vystar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, where an American crowd will be in attendance for the first time since the pandemic began.

Brown spoke with Fight Night Picks’ John Hyon Ko about the benefits of an extended training camp, fighting in front of fans again and his efforts to give back to Jamaica in a recent 20-minute interview.

“I was adamant about rebooking this fight because I really liked this matchup,” Brown said.

Brown (12-4) enters as a slight favorite over the UFC veteran Oliveira (22-9-1), but he’s not one to look at odds, he said. Stylistically, he feels this is a matchup that suits him.

“Sometimes he sets a pace he can’t maintain. I feel like that’s going to benefit me because I will be able to maintain that pace,” Brown said. “I expect fireworks. I expect a beautiful finish and a spectacular night.”

Throughout his career, Brown has been forced into extended training camps after fights were rebooked or scrapped. Each time, a career-best performance has followed, Brown said. Longer training camps allow Brown to prepare more and gain confidence.

“When you get a long time like that, the human body can do a lot of things,” Brown said. “You can push your body to where you know you can do this thing exceptionally for 5, 10, 15, 25 minutes.”

As for fighting on the first card with fans in the United States since February 2020, it makes no difference to Brown.

“There’s a side of me that prefers the crowd because I love that interaction. I love the energy that brings … It’s like gladiator school in a way,” Brown said. “But when that first punch is thrown, it’s just a fight.”

UFC 261 is headlined by a trio of title fights, including Jorge Masvidal vs. Kamaru Usman for the welterweight strap Brown eventually hopes to compete for. The pay-per-view main card starts at 10 p.m. ET. Brown is in the prelim headline bout on ESPN shortly before that.