UFC featherweight Cub Swanson remembers the time a local promoter basically told him he wasn’t worth $500.

That was back in the days when the WEC was a rising promotion, and he was a rising star on his way to the big show. The promoter was putting together a big show and wanted him to fight another up-and-comer.

That up-and-comer was future WEC champ and three-time UFC bantamweight title challenger Urijah Faber. Swanson said he should get paid more.

But how the times have changed for the 32-year-old Swanson. He is a nine-year veteran of the now-defunct WEC and industry-leading UFC, and a recognizable commodity to MMA fans. He’s won six of the UFC’s fight-night bonuses and banked hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting.

Even when he trains in his hometown of Palm Springs, Calif., he has a vote at the table when it comes to the fighters who stream into the world-famous Jackson-Wink MMA team in Albuquerque, N.M.

“Sometimes we get a call from Greg (Jackson) or (Mike Winkeljohn), and they’ll say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this guy?’” Swanson said.

On April 16 Swanson (21-7 MMA, 6-3 UFC) makes his 18th UFC/WEC appearance when he faces Hacran Dias (23-3-1 MMA, 3-2 UFC) at UFC on FOX 19 on the FOX-televised preliminary card at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. And yet, very recently, Swanson entertained the idea of stepping away from the sport he loved so much.

Back-to-back losses, against ex-champ Frankie Edgar and Max Holloway, exposed Swanson’s difficulties in negotiating the proper training environment. By the time he faced Holloway, he found himself speaking a different language with coaches who hadn’t even seen him work out prior to the fight.

“I tried to make my own camp because things weren’t going as smooth for me at Jackson’s at the time, and so I decided to stay home, and plus, I just didn’t feel like being in a training camp away from home,” Swanson, who’s No. 7 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA featherweight rankings, said. “So the dumb part was when I got to the fight, none of my coaches had even watched me spar one round.

“I was in incredible shape, (but) when they were trying to talk to me in between rounds, we weren’t even on the same page. So that was my fault. And they didn’t know I’d broken my thumb the first round, so I didn’t tell them, and I didn’t tell them I broke my jaw the second round. It was kind of an uphill battle the whole fight.”

Swanson is no stranger to uphill battles, of course. He’s broken more than a dozen bones in his career. He struggled to earn the UFC’s notice as a serious contender despite an impressive six-fight winning streak from 2012-2014. But in the wake of his recent two-fight skid, he came to realize it would not be in his best interest to walk away from the thing he’s spent the better part of his adult life trying to do: become a compete MMA fighter.

And so, Swanson encounters Dias, a member of Brazil’s famed Nova Uniao team, as part of his ongoing quest.

“I’m just going to go out there and try to be the best me possible – try to get back to being creative, striking and striking hard,” he said. “I’ve been working a ton on my wrestling.

“With the last two fights, it just made me want to get back to either stopping fighting or evolving to be a better fighter – and that’s always been my goal from Day One. I think he’s a great opponent for me to do that. I think I’m the better man, and I just have to show it.”

Swanson’s former promoter came to his house recently. The two now have a business relationship. Swanson takes the high road and doesn’t bring up the past.

“I smile and offer him some water,” he said.

But these days, Swanson knows better what he’s worth.

For more on UFC on FOX 19, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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