Cub Swanson has been dismissed by several jiu-jitsu schools during his training camp. Not for misconduct or anything like that, but simply because he’s fighting a Gracie.

Swanson takes on Kron Gracie next week at UFC on ESPN+ 19 and has struggled to find a gym that will train him.

Speaking on “UFC Unfiltered,” Swanson said he was told that training him would cause uncomfortable situations for the instructors at schools who have declined him.

“I’ve been able to get a lot of jiu-jitsu in because he’s a Gracie, and he has the name. It’s been an interesting one,” Swanson said. “I’ve been kicked out of a couple of jiu-jitsu schools because of the respect. They don’t want to train somebody that isn’t a Gracie, which really pisses me off.”

Swanson (25-11 MMA, 10-7 UFC), who started out his MMA career training jiu-jitsu, was disappointed with the way things went down. It’s what he labeled as the politics of jiu-jitsu that made him lean more towards training MMA.

“This is what I mean by it takes me back, because when I got into jiu-jitsu as a sport, it helped save my life,” Swanson said. “I was going down the wrong path. People know the story, I was getting into trouble, and I found jiu-jitsu. I fell in love, and I just competed all the time, and it became a passion.”

“I was really interested in the Gracie family and what they did,” Swanson added. “And huge honor and respect to them and then after competing and doing all that, I learned the politics of the sport and how ridiculous it could be, and it kind of left a little sour taste in my mouth, and that’s why I started doing more MMA.”

Despite losing his last four fights, Swanson believes he’s just hitting his stride. He hopes Oct. 12 will bring out a magical performance, like the one he was able to deliver in 2016 when he outlasted Doo Hoo Choi in an absolute war.

“I feel like I’m the best fighter I’ve ever been,” Swanson said. “It’s unfortunate that I’ve had some losses, and I haven’t been able to show that, but this is another chance to make a statement and against a Gracie. I think it’s an honor for me.”

A jiu-jitsu black belt himself, Swanson has been submitted in two of his last four losses but says he’s never quite fully focused on jiu-jitsu in his training camps. And for this one, naturally, a lot of the focus has been on that, and the stylistic matchup he’s facing in Gracie.

“Fights like this I need to be technical,” Swanson said. “I think I need to not show him any respect when it comes to getting comfortable and just start punching him in the face. I also am a black belt. I’ve gotten criticized for my jiu-jitsu before, but I wasn’t able to always roll with the best of the best grapplers because I was focusing on my striking.”