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:
That knee
#UFCSP pic.twitter.com/eovHc09Ewc
— UFC (@ufc) September 22, 2018
It wasn’t the most eventful fight, yet Leites was able to get his hand raised by decision after three rounds:
He gets it done on home soil! @ThalesLeites #UFCSP pic.twitter.com/nrIJX53vtv
— UFC (@ufc) September 22, 2018
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 exits the Octagon T-3 in wins in MW history with 13.
What a career, @ThalesLeites
— UFC (@ufc) September 22, 2018
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.
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