Are you miffed that Matt Brown is fighting Erick Silva and not former UFC interim champion Carlos Condit?

Then speak up about it, Brown said.

“The UFC, they told me, if you want a title shot, we need the fans to support (it),” Brown today told MMAjunkie Radio. “So everybody out there, if they think I deserve a title shot, then tell (UFC President) Dana White. Go on Twitter, go on Facebook, MMAjunkie forums, whatever. Just keep showing that support. Come to the fights and cheer.

“If the fans push hard enough for it, then I’m going to get it. That’s why Chael Sonnen gets title fights for no reason. He puts butts in seats.”

Brown? He isn’t too wound up about the situation, but then again, it’s not exactly his character to whine or complain about the politics of fighting. Just a few months ago, he was in danger of losing much more than a title shot.

The three herniated discs he suffered while training for a December bout with Condit at UFC on FOX 9 didn’t just force him to cancel the fight, but to put his health before his career. While he said he never was in danger of being forced to quit fighting, the seriousness of the injury required him to undergo an intense physical therapy regimen of as many as nine exercise sessions a day.

“It wasn’t so much the pain; I got a cortisone shot, so I didn’t feel the pain as much,” Brown said. “But had I continued with the fight, it definitely could have become a career-ending injury, so I had to step back and do what I had to do.”

With that done, Brown (18-11 MMA, 11-5 UFC) is cleared to fight, and he now headlines UFC Fight Night 40 a short drive from his current home of Columbus to Cincinnati, where the FOX Sports 1-televised event takes place at U.S. Bank Arena. Brown takes on Erick Silva (16-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC).

The opportunity to main event a card isn’t lost on “The Immortal,” who welcomes the spotlight he’ll receive as a local fighter who’s made good. But when it comes to lobbying on his own behalf, he’s a little less eager.

While fighting and beating Condit undoubtedly would have better served his long-term goal of getting a title shot, he doesn’t fear losing his place in line by fighting Silva, who was in impressive form with a first-round TKO of Takenori Sato in his most recent outing at UFC Fight Night 36.

“I don’t really get into the whole, like, momentum, and things like that,” Brown said. “I’m not that superstitious. I just don’t really look at things like that. I forget about the past and look toward the future. I don’t care what I already did. It’s what I’m going to do.”

Of course, if he could do to Silva what he’s done to six of his past six opponents, it would be hard to argue he doesn’t deserve a promotion. The knockouts he’s delivered against top competition in one of the UFC’s deepest divisions is nothing short of miraculous, and a win over the highly touted Brazilian would add another name to a list of contenders whose rise was stopped in violent fashion.

Brown, for one, said he isn’t taking the task lightly.

“This kid is good,” he said of Silva. “He does everything really well, and he’s explosive and tricky. He brings a different look than you can probably find in any gym. He’s a unique fighter, and he can surprise you with a lot of different things. But again, he’s got to worry about what I’m going to do.”

And right now, that means trudge forward with the job. Brown will let others do the talking for him. If they want to see him do bigger things, they know White’s Twitter handle.

For more on UFC Fight Night 40, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.

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