Tag: retirement

Jon Jones Hints at Retirement, Decision Hinges on Performance at UFC 309 – “Make It Look Really Easy”

Jon Jones Hints at Retirement, Decision Hinges on Performance at UFC 309 - "Make It Look Really Easy"Jon Jones‘ performance at UFC 309 will determine whether or not he lays down his gloves for good. 20…

Jon Jones Hints at Retirement, Decision Hinges on Performance at UFC 309 - "Make It Look Really Easy"

Jon Jones‘ performance at UFC 309 will determine whether or not he lays down his gloves for good.

20 months after scoring a quickfire submission victory over Ciryl Gane to win the vacant heavyweight title at UFC 285, ‘Bones’ will return to the Octagon on November 16 for a showdown with the division’s consensus GOAT, Stipe Miocic. The two titans will headline the promotion’s annual pit stop in Madison Square Garden, and could very well be the last time we see both of them compete.

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While Miocic’s retirement feels like a foregone conclusion at this point, Jones has been a little more up in the air with his fighting future. Recently, ‘Bones’ made it clear that if he did stick around, he had no intention of unifying his belt with interim titleholder Tom Aspinall. Instead, he’d much rather seek out another legacy fight with reigning light heavyweight king Alex Pereira.

But even that isn’t guaranteed.

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Jon Jones Doesn’t have ‘anything left to prove’

During a recent interview with KetoneIQ, Jones made it clear that his performance in NYC this weekend will determine whether or not he sticks around for one more fight.

“I feel like whether I retire or not will depend on this next performance,” Jones stated. “One of my main goals is to make it look really easy. If I can accomplish that, then curiosity will keep me in the game–just to see how far we can really take this thing.”

Jones continued, “But at the same time, I’m really happy with my career. It’s been unbelievable, truly unbelievable. I work on looking in the mirror and reminding myself that I am enough, that I’ve accomplished enough, and that I don’t have anything left to prove. Sometimes, you can get caught up in always needing more and more.”

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Jones’ fight against Miocic will be his second appearance inside the Octagon in nearly five years. Miocic is in a similar boat with the Cleveland native competing for the first time since a March 2021 loss to Francis Ngannou.

Tom Aspinall has fought seven times in the time it’s taken Jones and Miocic to rack up two combined fights — and that’s with Aspinall losing a year of his career due to a knee injury.

But please Mr. Jones, tell us more about how Aspinall hasn’t done anything.

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Bryce Mitchell sheds light on post-fight retirement comments at UFC 282: “I was really hard on myself.”

Bryce Mitchell, Ilia Topuria, UFC 282Bryce Mitchell has retracted his recent plans to retire immediately following his UFC 282 loss.  Mitchell contemplated retirement after his first professional loss to Ilia Topuria in December. After the fight, Mitchell felt “regret” for his performance.  “I just know I could have done better. I’m just in so much pain that I don’t think […]

Bryce Mitchell, Ilia Topuria, UFC 282

Bryce Mitchell has retracted his recent plans to retire immediately following his UFC 282 loss. 

Mitchell contemplated retirement after his first professional loss to Ilia Topuria in December. After the fight, Mitchell felt “regret” for his performance. 

“I just know I could have done better. I’m just in so much pain that I don’t think it’s worth it to keep going,” Mitchell said “I want to stop with MMA and I want to take every little bit of focus that I spend every day on MMA, I want to put it into something else.”

The 28-year-old spoke with ESPN’s Brett Okomoto about the immediate reaction to his submission loss last month. He says that he wasn’t 100%. On social media, he did reveal that he was dealing with the flu heading into the fight.

“When you’re in that state, you’ve got to realize you’re not completely normal, you’re not thinking rationally…I was really mad. I was being really hard on myself.” 

Mitchell also said that if he didn’t think he could’ve done better then he’d retire but that’s not the case. He admitted that he was instantly tired when the fight started and believes that wasn’t his best performance.

“I’ll be honest with you Brett… I swear on my life, if that’s the best I can do I would retire because that sh*t was terrible,” Mitchell said. “But I know I could do better and after thinking about it and knowing how much better I could’ve done. Yeah, I’ve got a different opinion on the fight.” 

Bryce Mitchell Is Looking To Bounce Back From Defeat

Mitchell is confident that he can do better than he did last month and wants to prove that whenever he “runs out of money” in 2023. 

“I am anxious to prove that I can do better. I’m not gonna lie to you. I’d do better right now. If we fought today, I’d do better than I did…whenever we fought.” 

Going into UFC 282, Mitchell was 15-0 during his MMA career. He has 9 submission wins under his belt. In 2019, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt secured the second twister submission in UFC history.

Chuck Liddell Not Ready to Address Retirement Following Loss to Tito Ortiz

At 48 years of age, Chuck Liddell staged a comeback on Saturday night but the result was probably worse than anything he could have imagined as he suffered a first round knockout to Tito Ortiz. In the lead up to the fight, Liddell was constantly questi…

At 48 years of age, Chuck Liddell staged a comeback on Saturday night but the result was probably worse than anything he could have imagined as he suffered a first round knockout to Tito Ortiz. In the lead up to the fight, Liddell was constantly questioned about his motivation to return as well as his […]

The post Chuck Liddell Not Ready to Address Retirement Following Loss to Tito Ortiz appeared first on MMA News.

Michael Bisping Thanks Fans For Outpouring Of Support

Michael Bisping was ‘blown away’ by the fan support for his retirement:

The post Michael Bisping Thanks Fans For Outpouring Of Support appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Last night the mixed martial arts world was beset with the somewhat shocking news that longtime veteran Michael Bisping was officially retiring from the sport after a 14-year career.

Following two consecutive losses, the 39-year-old had discussed retirement somewhat frequently in recent months, but it was thought he would do just that after one final farewell fight – a fight which he was potentially matched up against a who’s who of MMA talent such as Rashad Evans, Lyoto Machida, Luke Rockhold, and Vitor Belfort.

But ‘The Count’ revealed he had been suffering from a vitreous detachment in his left eye following his short-notice knockout loss to Kelvin Gastelum in the main event of UFC Shanghai last November. The injury was especially concerning because of Bisping’s well-documented history of detached retina issues in his left eye.

With his vision at stake, no one could blame Bisping for retiring instead of pushing his luck with one final fight at nearly 40 years of age, and indeed the majority of the MMA world met the news of his retirement with an outpouring of support for the man who owns the records for most wins in the UFC, most fights in the UFC, and most significant strikes landed in competition.

‘The Count’ thanked his fans on Twitter for their support, saying he was simply ‘blown away’ by the good wishes he’d received:

It hasn’t been all hugs and buttercups, however, as many of Bisping’s haters have taken the moment of his retirement to focus on the fact that he may have received some incredibly favorable decisions in his favor, namely his wins over Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson in two of the most pivotal bouts of his career.

Regardless, Bisping was a true fighter, and iron man who never said no to a challenge and made up for what he may have lacked in pure talent with heart and toughness.

He wasn’t the most dominant champion in UFC history by a long stretch, but he was one of the most dedicated fighters in UFC history. And for that, ‘The Count’ deserved every last one of his congratulations and well wishes, and also our respect for knowing when to get out of the game – something even few top fighters know when to do.

Happy trails, Count.

The post Michael Bisping Thanks Fans For Outpouring Of Support appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Five Biggest Takeaways From UFC 210

With last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York now in the books, we’re left to analyze and discuss another night of drama and intrigue, and needless to say, last night was one of the stragnest we’ve seen in quite awhile. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson retired after losing for a

The post Five Biggest Takeaways From UFC 210 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

With last night’s (April 8, 2017) UFC 210 from the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York now in the books, we’re left to analyze and discuss another night of drama and intrigue, and needless to say, last night was one of the stragnest we’ve seen in quite awhile.

Anthony “Rumble” Johnson retired after losing for a second time against Daniel Cormier. Mousasi and “kneegate,” where the Armenian landed a legal knee which at first was deemed illegal added a ton of controversy to the co-main. Canadian MMA pioneer Patrick Cote hung up the gloves following a loss as well.

UFC 210 was just one of those events where the excitement and unpredictability of this sport was on full display. Take a look at our five biggest takeaways from Saturday night.

5. Former middleweight title contender Patrick Cote retires:

Cote may not be the biggest name anymore, but it’s fair to say, for a time, that he and Georges Saint Pierre were the faces of Canadian MMA. He took on Anderson Silva for the middleweight belt back in 2008. He fought for the UFC for a whopping 20 time. The man has earned his retirement the hard way, after years of wading through some of the welterweight and middleweight divisions toughest fighters.

All of which made his retirement on Saturday night even more of a takeaway moment. Cote was battered and bettered for three rounds by Thiago Alves, eventually losing by unanimous decision after being rocked, dropped, and nearly finished by tbe Brazilian.

While only on a two-fight losing streak, Cote opted to walk away from the sport at 37 years old.

The post Five Biggest Takeaways From UFC 210 appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Vitor Belfort Suggests “CM Punk” For Retirement Fight

CM Punk seems to be the walking punch line of the UFC (well, besides the GSP vs. Michael Bisping fight), so it seems completely appropriate that former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort would use his as the butt of his.

The post Vitor Belfort Suggests “CM Punk” For Retirement Fight appeared first on Cagepotato.

“Just for the laughs”

CM Punk seems to be the walking punch line of the UFC (well, besides the GSP vs. Michael Bisping fight), so it seems completely appropriate that former light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort would use him as the butt of his.

As we all know, Vitor came off of a less than stellar performance Saturday night, losing via 1st round TKO against middleweight newcomer Kelvin Gastelum. Although Vitor had some early success, Kelvin’s crisp boxing skills and constant pressure proved too much for the Pride veteran. In a recent interview with Flocombat, Vitor announced that he was tired of facing the murders row of UFC opponents and wanted a much “smoother fight.”

“It would have to be an interesting fighter, but not a top fighter”, Belfort said. “I’ve been fighting good guys before: Dan Henderson, [Chris] Weidman, Dan Henderson, ‘Jacaré’ [Souza], [Gegard] Mousasi and now Kelvin [Gastelum]. These are all hard fights, so if you can book a smoother fight… What’s the name of that guy from WWE? CM Punk would be a good fight”, Belfort laughed. ”CM Punk, let’s get it on. That would be a really good fight.

Yep, you read right. Vitor Belfort wants “CM Punk” for his swan song at UFC 212. While he was obviously just joking (I think…) we thought it would be fun to throw in our opinion on how the fight might play out. In fact, we found a video we feel accurately displays our thoughts and sentiments.

You get the picture. But in all seriousness, Vitor is aiming to end his highlight reel career on June 3 rd in Rio De Janeiro Brazil, and at 205 lbs to boot. Who should he fight next?

 

Lionel Harris-Spence is a writer, filmmaker, and functioning alcoholic. You can catch him screaming obscenities at flat screens on fight night.

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