Matt Brown plans to expose 'Cowboy' Cerrone and the 'lie' he's telling

Matt Brown knows how to recognize a bully, and that's exactly what he sees in his UFC 206 opponent Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone.

Now, that might seem like a strange assessment when describing Cerrone, who is generally known throughout the mixed martial arts world as one of the friendliest and most laid back fighters in the industry.

But Brown's criticism of Cerrone has nothing to do with his behavior outside of the cage, but rather the way he performs when stepping into the Octagon.

"I think 'Cowboy' plays off a certain image and a lot of people believe that image when they get into the cage with him, but I think most it's just a lie and I plan on going in there and exposing that lie," Brown told FOX Sports.

When asked to explain further what lie Cerrone was telling, Brown said that the Jackson-Winkeljohn fighter carries himself a certain way when he competes that just doesn't sit well with him.

"I would say it's posturing. He reminds me of the senior in high school that was bullying the freshmen. I was that kid getting bullied so I don't really respect that (expletive)," Brown said.

"It's been shown in the past — he doesn't like a fight. He only likes beating up other people. I think I'm the wrong type of person to be in there with when you're that type of person. Whether you hit me or not, I'm going to hit you back. I think a lot of that comes from when I talk about the lie, his camp is lying to him, the people around him are lying to him. They're telling him how good he is, a lot of 'yes' men and it's just a big lie. When you get to the real savages that are going to push back, that's when the lie gets exposed."

It's been brought up in the days leading to the fight that Brown and Cerrone used to train together, but the Ohio native quickly rejects the notion that they ever actually did any real work in the gym.

In fact, Brown suggests that Cerrone actually didn't want to train with him for some unknown reason and the one time they actually did go through some wrestling drills it amounted to very little actual sparring at all.

"I've been around him a few times, he's come to the gym. He used to be part of the crew here in Denver so he's been around a few times. I think we wrestled one time, he kind of ran away from me the whole time didn't really do anything," Brown said. "We didn't really train much. I don't know if he was expecting to fight me but he kind of avoided training with me so I don't know. It is what it is."

One thing for certain is this is a fight that Brown definitely wanted after hearing that Cerrone was without an opponent following the loss of his original opponent Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 205 when he couldn't make weight.

When Gastelum was pulled off the card, Brown actually called UFC president Dana White that day and offered to fight Cerrone on less than 24-hours notice.

"I was kind of hoping to fight in New York City actually so the day before when I heard (Kelvin) Gastelum didn't make weight, I just texted Dana (White) real quick and said I can make weight by midnight and I'd be down to fight tomorrow," Brown revealed. "Just fly me out and let's go. He said 'how about you just fight 'Cowboy' on Dec. 10 instead?'."

"I said well I already have this fight with (Tarec) Saffiedine and he said well just make the fight with 'Cowboy' that's a better fight."

Now Brown has got his wish but this matchup is more about a fight that he wanted and has nothing to do with climbing back on the horse after a couple of tough losses.

It wasn't that long ago that Brown was cemented in the top 10 in the welterweight division but a 1-4 run over his last five fights put him on the outside looking in regards to the rankings.

Now Brown says his own wish is to beat Cerrone on Saturday night and then move onto the next one while no longer obsessing about rankings or titles in the UFC.

"I may have put a little bit too much mental energy into those thoughts so I'm really just kind of taking all that out of my mind," Brown said. "Getting back to just thinking about the fight. Maybe I've been a little bit clouded, too many inputs from too many different sources.

"Let's get back to just the fight. That's what it's all about. That's what it all comes down to in the end and that's all I'm thinking about — the fight."