Akihiro Gono – image via UFC.com
Longtime veteran, Japanese fighter Akihiro Gono (32-18-7), was in action Friday night making his Bellator debut versus that promotions lightweight champion Michael Chandler in a non-title bout at Bellator 67.
Gono would suffer a first round TKO loss, suffering his third straight defeat and putting his record at 3-6 over his last nine matches.
At the Bellator 67 post fight press conference, streamed live at Bellator.com, Gono announced his retirement from mixed martial arts ending a fifty-seven bout pro-career dating back to April 1994.
Gono is a longtime veteran of the Japanese MMA scene, competing for promotions such as Shooto, Pancrase, PRIDE, Sengoku and DEEP. He even fought inside of the Octagon, going 1-2 in that time winning his debut back at UFC 78 in 2007.
Gono has competed at middleweight down to lightweight over his career fighting notables such as Matt Hughes, Dan Henderson, Chael Sonnen, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Hector Lombard, Gegard Mousasi, Jon Fitch, and Dan Hardy. He even holds wins over Lombard and Mousasi, both of who have only suffered two and three defeats in their career’s respectively.
Bellator 67 took place at Casino Rama in Rama, Ontario, Canada with the Chandler vs. Gono bout airing live on MTV2 Friday night.