Matthew Burton Brown (born January 10, 1981) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, competing in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2004, Brown was a contestant on the seventh season of The Ultimate Fighter television series. As of March 5, 2017, he is #15 in the official UFC Welterweight rankings.
Brown was born and raised in Jamestown, Ohio. After being home schooled for two years, he attended Greeneview High School where he struggled to fit in. Living in a small town with no foreseeable future outside of a low paying factory job as a machinist, Brown grew frustrated and turned to drugs and alcohol. For a period, he was addicted to meth, regularly used cocaine and would often get into fights at parties. By his early twenties he had survived a heroin overdose (which led to his nickname "The Immortal"), had been homeless and had been to prison. Brown's interest in MMA started with drunkenly practicing various submission holds on friends that he'd seen on VHS tapes featuring Ken Shamrock.