Conor McGregor is gunning for UFC knockout record, but he’ll have to go through Matt Brown to get it

‘The Notorious’ has declared he plans on beating Matt Brown’s UFC record for most knockouts. Brown says he’ll fight him for it.

Matt Brown added another impressive KO win to his collection on Saturday night when he greased Court McGee with a stiff right hand in the first round of their welterweight bout. The finish earned “The Immortal” a $50,000 bonus and brought his total knockouts in the promotion up to 13. That ties him with Derrick Lewis for most KOs under the UFC banner.

The 42-year-old Brown also happens to be the second most senior active fighter on the UFC roster, just under 44-year-old Andrei Arlovski. When you’re that age, retirement questions abound. Matt shared his thoughts on the future with Megan Olivi after his big win, and whether he’d try to lock in the No. 1 spot on the KO board.

“We’ll see what happens, I’m going to go back home and hang with the kids, the family,” he said. “I’m not really thinking about it right now, but obviously when I’m in the octagon and standing back here, my first instinct is ‘Let’s get that record,’ right?”

“But we’ll see what happens. Lot of injuries I’m dealing with all the time, you know? That’s the only thing slowing me down. That’s why I haven’t fought since last year. The injuries is the only hurdle I have at this point.”

The win — and the record — caught Conor McGregor’s attention.

“Matt Brown, at 42 years of age, now holds the joint highest KO’s inside the UFC with 13KO’s,” McGregor wrote on Twitter. “Him and ‘The Beast’ Lewis are tied. I hold 8 KO’s inside the UFC currently, at 34 years of age. I’m getting this record.”

“I’ll fight you for it,” Brown replied.

McGregor’s plan to smash out at least six more KOs was met with some skepticism from others in the sport.

“Lol you don’t show up for work often enough,” Ben Askren commented.

“The Notorious” will certainly have to up his output if he wants to achieve that goal. After churning through 10 fights in four years to start his UFC career, McGregor has only fought four times between 2017 and 2023. His first fight since a bad leg break injury in July 2021 still doesn’t have a date, and Conor still isn’t back in the USADA testing pool.

We’d love to see a return to steady activity from the Irish sports star, but at this point we’re just hoping for a return sometime by the end of 2023.