At UFC 206, Cub Swanson and Doo Ho Choi stole the show by staging perhaps the best fight of the year, going to war for three rounds in a nonstop, standup war that saw both men lay it all on the line, much to the delight of fight fans worldwide.
While Swanson walked away with the unanimous decision victory, taking Choi’s previously perfect record with him, his foe won the respect and admiration of his fellow colleagues and fans.
Swanson included.
"There was a few times that I was hitting him with flurries, that I was like, ‘Jesus!’ I turned my head to look to see the referee and I’m like, ‘Are you going to stop this?’ And when I looked back, he was already there trying to fire back. I was thinking, ‘Man, this guy just won’t go down,’" said Cub on a recent appearance on The MMA Hour.
Admitting that he never hit a heavy bag as hard as he crushed Choi -- while his venerable foe just absorbed it like a sponge -- Swanson wanted his opponent's corner to prevent the young upstart from taking further (and unnecessary) damage.
"I was hitting him with everything that I had, and he was just taking it. It was tripping me out," said Swanson. "It wasn't frustrating, it was more, I knew I was doing a lot of damage. I wish his corner would’ve thrown in the towel, to be honest. Yeah, in the third round because I could see in his face that he was just in there with all heart. And he’s a young, talented fighter, so what’s the point of taking damage like that?" he added.
That said, Swanson says had that been him on the other end, he wouldn’t want his corner to throw in the towel, recalling his fight with Max Holloway in which he didn’t tell his corner his jaw and hand were broken.
Still, Cub was worried for Choi’s well being, saying that when he tried to lift him up at the end of their epic battle, it seemed like he didn’t even realize where he was.
Scary stuff.
To relive the epic battle between Swanson and Choi — which earned each combatant an extra $50,000 in bonus money — click here.