Tag: Career

Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil

Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil. Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at […]

The post Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.

Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at one point.

Check it out:

It wasn’t the most eventful fight, yet Leites was able to get his hand raised by decision after three rounds:

Leites then did something that was perhaps unexpected. The middleweight mainstay dropped his gloves in the Octagon and retired in his home country of Brazil:

Leites leaves the sport behind with a quietly historic career. He is tied for the third-most wins in UFC middleweight history with 13. That’s an impressive feat to be sure.

“Milk” debuted in the Octagon all the way back in November 2006. He lost a decision to Martin Kampmann. He then ran up five straight wins afterward. That earned him a title shot against all-time great former champ Anderson Silva in April 2009. The fight is still largely considered one of the worst UFC title fights of all-time.

But he still fought “The Spider” in his prime.

Leites also probably could not have chosen a better moment to go out on top after a close victory in his Brazilian homeland. He beat Lombard yet had lost three of his previous five UFC bouts. He was a talented submission artist who tapped out 15 opponents in his nearly 15-year mixed martial arts career. Leites faced top names like Silva, Michael Bisping, Lombard, Jeremy Horn, and Tim Boetsch.

We wish Leites all the best in his post-fight life.

The post Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The TRT Legacy: UFC Legend Dan Henderson’s Problematic Career

You’ll read a lot this week about 44-year-old Dan Henderson, a throwback to a simpler time in the sport of mixed martial arts. In the days before biological passports and year-round random drug testing, before, MMA fighting was even a full-time profession, Henderson carved out a legacy as one of MMA’s most enduring legends. Henderson’s career […]

You’ll read a lot this week about 44-year-old Dan Henderson, a throwback to a simpler time in the sport of mixed martial arts. In the days before biological passports and year-round random drug testing, before, MMA fighting was even a full-time profession, Henderson carved out a legacy as one of MMA’s most enduring legends. Henderson’s career […]

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Can Anthony Johnson Complete One of the Most Unique Career Turnarounds?

Let’s jump into the MMA time machine and travel back three short years to 2012. UFC 142 was set to occur in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Anthony Johnson was set to move up to the middleweight division and face off with Vitor Belfort. What occurred would forever change Johnson’s career track, but the end result […]

Let’s jump into the MMA time machine and travel back three short years to 2012. UFC 142 was set to occur in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Anthony Johnson was set to move up to the middleweight division and face off with Vitor Belfort. What occurred would forever change Johnson’s career track, but the end result […]

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John Makdessi Ready for Biggest Opportunity of His Career at UFC 187

Great opportunities in mixed martial arts are few and far between, but John Makdessi realized when the biggest one of his career was there for the taking. When Khabib Nurmagomedov injured his knee and was forced out of his highly anticipated bout against Donald Cerrone at UFC 187, there was suddenly a space available opposite […]

Great opportunities in mixed martial arts are few and far between, but John Makdessi realized when the biggest one of his career was there for the taking. When Khabib Nurmagomedov injured his knee and was forced out of his highly anticipated bout against Donald Cerrone at UFC 187, there was suddenly a space available opposite […]

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Mark Munoz Writes Deserving Fairy-Tale Ending to His MMA Career

If you need any more proof that Mark Munoz is one of the most beloved athletes in mixed martial arts, you need look no further than UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik handing the fighter the mic after Munoz defeated Luke Barnatt in his retirement fight Saturday at UFC Fight Night 66. As an interviewer, the […]

If you need any more proof that Mark Munoz is one of the most beloved athletes in mixed martial arts, you need look no further than UFC play-by-play man Jon Anik handing the fighter the mic after Munoz defeated Luke Barnatt in his retirement fight Saturday at UFC Fight Night 66. As an interviewer, the […]

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The 10 Best and Worst Moments of Mirko Cro Cop’s Career

On Saturday, legendary Croatian striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic returns to the Octagon for the first time since 2011. He is 40 years old and has been fighting since 2001. Over the past few years, he became an afterthought. He is a considerable underdog to Gabriel Gonzaga, the man who changed the trajectory of his […]

On Saturday, legendary Croatian striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic returns to the Octagon for the first time since 2011. He is 40 years old and has been fighting since 2001. Over the past few years, he became an afterthought. He is a considerable underdog to Gabriel Gonzaga, the man who changed the trajectory of his […]

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