Randy Brown has been waiting for this moment for quite some time, the chip on his shoulder getting a little bit bigger each time it slid past him.
When we spoke this summer in Las Vegas, Brown, 35, was a couple of months removed from his blistering knockout of Nicolas Dalby, which was his eighth win in 10 fights, and irritated about remaining stationed outside the rankings in the welterweight division. A decade into his UFC tenure, “Rudeboy” had never carried a number next to his name, and in addition to the narrow split-decision loss he suffered to Bryan Battle at the end of 2024, the only other person to get the better of him, Jack Della Maddalena, was just settling into his seat atop the division.