MMA may be in its infancy, yet a vast amount of the sport’s pioneers have either retired or faded into oblivion. Fighters come and go, but for some fight fans, the retirement of a fighter can be heart-rending stuff.
Most fighters in any walk of sport are the last to know when to quit. When they do finally call time on their storied careers, it’s mostly due to the fact that they were on the receiving end of a one-sided beat-down.
UFC legends Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture and, most recently, B.J. Penn have all been party to said thrashing, which subsequently were the catalysts in their decisions to wave goodbye to the Octagon and their stellar careers.
Sure, the aforementioned combatants will be sorely missed for their achievements, but there are a host of other mixed martial artists and pioneers of the sport who shall be missed in equal measure.
Let’s take a look at a generation of MMA fighters that fight fans will really miss.