The last time Matt Brown set foot inside the UFC Octagon was in November 2017, where he scored an emphatic elbow knockout win against fellow veteran Diego Sanchez. The victory broke his three-fight skid, and earned him an extra $50,000 for Performance of the Night honors.

These days, Brown is more focused on his newly-opened gym aptly named Immortal Martial Arts Center in Columbus, Ohio, that he is not too concerned about his fighting career as of the moment.

“I’m just focusing on what I do and not really focused on the division on who is up there and who is doing what,” Brown told BJPenn.com in an interview. “Just focusing on myself and being positive. I have a gym I am building so that is taking up a lot of my time. Not even really focusing on anything else.”

“It is harder than any other fight I have ever done,” he said of his new venture. “It is keeping me on my toes, keeping the adrenaline going high all the time.”

While the 37-year-old welterweight says he is “100 percent” open to fighting again, he is also banking on the success of his gym to become a viable source of livelihood.

“I’m hoping with this gym I won’t have to fight,” Brown said. “Hopefully, I can make a better decision because it is not based on want to, it is because I need to. I don’t really know anything else, so with this, I have something else. Ideally, that will be a long-term, sustainable financial thing and then I can make my own decision. Not based on emotion or not based on finances and actually make sure I have a desire to get back in there and fight.”

“It wouldn’t be the end of the world [if I didn’t fight again],” he added. “It certainly is tough, especially this last year going without fighting, and a really strange transition. It certainly wouldn’t be the end of the world. I am trying to be a step ahead of the normal athlete’s career, and we get towards the end and guys don’t know what to do. Or they are forced to quit.

“Whatever the different situation is, they end up retired or lost, or going broke. I know a lot of guys who get depressed, so I’m just trying to be one step ahead of that. That is the best I can do.”

Come 2019, Brown will be entering his 11th year in the UFC and his 14th year as a professional fighter. He currently holds a record of 21-16, with 19 wins by stoppage.