Tag: retirement

Chael Sonnen Announces His Retirement From MMA in the Wake of Drug Test Failure

(Props: UFC on FOX)

Chael Sonnen — the American Gangster, the Bad Guy, the most entertaining talker and most unabashed liar in the history of mixed martial arts — has announced his retirement after sixteen and a half years of professional MMA competition. Sonnen broke the news on this evening’s installment of UFC Tonight. As the 37-year-old former middleweight title contender explained, he planned to continue using the estrogen blockers he had just tested positive for, in order to get his health back to normal without testosterone replacement therapy. And so, he’s taken himself out of the game.

You can watch Sonnen’s full retirement statement above, which naturally contains his usual massaging of the truth and dubious pleas of ignorance regarding the athletic commission’s rules. The important stuff is below…

“I want to talk directly to the thousands and thousands of fans who have supported me throughout my career. Guys, I had a great time. And there are so many people to thank, from the leadership of the UFC, to the people here at FOX that have given us such a wonderful platform and opportunity.

“I want to thank my coach, Clayton Hires, who has stood by me through thick and thin, who taught me how to work hard, who taught me about discipline. I want to thank Roy Pittman and Dave Sanville, the coaches that I first had when I very first walked into a wrestling room. And these guys have been great.

“I want to thank Bill Brady of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a man I am proud to call my friend. I got a second wind in fighting, I got to come back, and it was solely due to Bill Brady, and I’m very proud to know him and that our paths have crossed.


(Props: UFC on FOX)

Chael Sonnen — the American Gangster, the Bad Guy, the most entertaining talker and most unabashed liar in the history of mixed martial arts — has announced his retirement after sixteen and a half years of professional MMA competition. Sonnen broke the news on this evening’s installment of UFC Tonight. As the 37-year-old former middleweight title contender explained, he planned to continue using the estrogen blockers he had just tested positive for, in order to get his health back to normal without testosterone replacement therapy. And so, he’s taken himself out of the game.

You can watch Sonnen’s full retirement statement above, which naturally contains his usual massaging of the truth and dubious pleas of ignorance regarding the athletic commission’s rules. The important stuff is below…

“I want to talk directly to the thousands and thousands of fans who have supported me throughout my career. Guys, I had a great time. And there are so many people to thank, from the leadership of the UFC, to the people here at FOX that have given us such a wonderful platform and opportunity.

“I want to thank my coach, Clayton Hires, who has stood by me through thick and thin, who taught me how to work hard, who taught me about discipline. I want to thank Roy Pittman and Dave Sanville, the coaches that I first had when I very first walked into a wrestling room. And these guys have been great.

“I want to thank Bill Brady of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, a man I am proud to call my friend. I got a second wind in fighting, I got to come back, and it was solely due to Bill Brady, and I’m very proud to know him and that our paths have crossed.

“I don’t want to be out of bounds, I want to stay within compliance. But in the three years that I have studied these rules, I’ve gotten conflicting reports and I’m no closer to understanding them now than I’ve ever been. Look, my health is going to come first, my family will always come first. And someday, I will not have the title of fighter. I will lose that title. But I will never lose the title of parent and father, that is what’s very important to me. And at this time I would like to officially announce my retirement from competitive mixed martial arts.

“I am officially done. I will not step foot in that Octagon again.”

As with all bold statements made by Sonnen, maybe we shouldn’t interpret this as the gospel truth. Fighters have a tendency to go back on sudden retirement claims as soon as the itch to compete strikes them again. Then again, maybe I’m just in denial about the loss of one of MMA’s most lovable villains. More to come tomorrow…

Bob Sapp Retires: A Legendary Life, In GIFs


(This is happening right now. Don’t fight it.)

During Saturday’s episode of Submission Radio, combat sports icon Bob Sapp announced that he was walking away from professional fighting at the age of 40, after more than 12 years competing in mixed martial arts and kickboxing. Sapp claimed that he’s retiring with over $10 million in the bank, thanks to a combination of wise investing and his infamous (but income generating) “world tour,” in which he lost 12 consecutive MMA fights in 12 different countries since 2011.

“I no longer have a need to go into the ring for 40,000 for a fight when I’m making, well last month it was somewhere in that realm of over 1 million dollars,” Sapp told Submission Radio. “I don’t need to do that any longer.”

Sapp also went 1-13 in kickboxing since September 2005 — his only victory being an unexpected TKO win via injury — although he saw tremendous success as of late in celebrity arm-wrestling tournaments.

It’s hard to know how we should remember a man whose career saw him go from the terrifying “Beast” of his early K-1 appearances to a walking punchline, who developed a persona better than almost any other pro fighter in history — and became a cultural icon in Japan as a result — who was nakedly candid about his motivations and didn’t seem to give a damn about his reputation as an athlete. Bob Sapp was an entertainer, and truly great at what he did. His career touched professional wrestling, acting (Frankenhood!), and fast-food pizza. He was so much more than just a huge guy swinging his fists at his smaller opponents, although he was that too.

As Internet custom dictates, we will now honor Bob Sapp’s departure with a collection of his greatest GIFs. Check ’em out after the jump, and hit the “Next Page” buttons for more…


(This is happening right now. Don’t fight it.)

During Saturday’s episode of Submission Radio, combat sports icon Bob Sapp announced that he was walking away from professional fighting at the age of 40, after more than 12 years competing in mixed martial arts and kickboxing. Sapp claimed that he’s retiring with over $10 million in the bank, thanks to a combination of wise investing and his infamous (but income generating) “world tour,” in which he lost 12 consecutive MMA fights in 12 different countries since 2011.

“I no longer have a need to go into the ring for 40,000 for a fight when I’m making, well last month it was somewhere in that realm of over 1 million dollars,” Sapp told Submission Radio. “I don’t need to do that any longer.”

Sapp also went 1-13 in kickboxing since September 2005 — his only victory being an unexpected TKO win via injury — although he saw tremendous success as of late in celebrity arm-wrestling tournaments.

It’s hard to know how we should remember a man whose career saw him go from the terrifying “Beast” of his early K-1 appearances to a walking punchline, who developed a persona better than almost any other pro fighter in history — and became a cultural icon in Japan as a result — who was nakedly candid about his motivations and didn’t seem to give a damn about his reputation as an athlete. Bob Sapp was an entertainer, and truly great at what he did. His career touched professional wrestling, acting (Frankenhood!), and fast-food pizza. He was so much more than just a huge guy swinging his fists at his smaller opponents, although he was that too.

As Internet custom dictates, we will now honor Bob Sapp’s departure with a collection of his greatest GIFs. Check ‘em out after the jump, and hit the “Next Page” buttons for more…

Dear God, No: Big Nog Eyeing Another Fight After He Returns From ACL Surgery


(Ugh, post-knockout leg lifts are just the *worst*. Photo via Getty.)

There wasn’t an MMA fan among us who enjoyed watching Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira get pancaked by Roy Nelson at Fight Night 39. The ugly loss accounted for Minotauro’s second in as many contests and 5th in his past 8 overall. Even more unsettling is the fact that in those 5 defeats, the formerly unfinishable heavyweight has suffered two broken arms and at least three concussions, not to mention the litany of injuries he’s gone down with in between those fights.

In short, it would appear that Big Nog’s body is trying to tell him something. Unfortunately for his arms, legs, torso, and jaw, his mind has apparently yet to receive the message. It was revealed over the weekend by Nogueira himself that the former PRIDE champion had tore his ACL just days prior to his contest with Nelson, which might have explained why he looked as if he was fighting underwater in the minutes leading up to his brutal loss:

I just got my exams, and I unfortunately tore my ACL. Three days before the fight, I was training wrestling and I twisted my right knee working on a single leg. I stopped training, and I felt it during the fight. I did the exams as soon as I returned to Brazil, and I found out this morning that I hurt the ACL and LCL.

I’m going to need surgery. I had the same surgery on the left knee three years ago, and now it’s on the right knee.

So basically, Nogueira’s body is a ticking time bomb. But rest assured, he still wants another fight…


(Ugh, post-knockout leg lifts are just the *worst*. Photo via Getty.)

There wasn’t an MMA fan among us who enjoyed watching Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira get pancaked by Roy Nelson at Fight Night 39. The ugly loss accounted for Minotauro’s second in as many contests and 5th in his past 8 overall. Even more unsettling is the fact that in those 5 defeats, the formerly unfinishable heavyweight has suffered two broken arms and at least three concussions, not to mention the litany of injuries he’s gone down with in between those fights.

In short, it would appear that Big Nog’s body is trying to tell him something. Unfortunately for his arms, legs, torso, and jaw, his mind has apparently yet to receive the message. It was revealed over the weekend by Nogueira himself that the former PRIDE champion had tore his ACL just days prior to his contest with Nelson, which might have explained why he looked as if he was fighting underwater in the minutes leading up to his brutal loss:

I just got my exams, and I unfortunately tore my ACL. Three days before the fight, I was training wrestling and I twisted my right knee working on a single leg. I stopped training, and I felt it during the fight. I did the exams as soon as I returned to Brazil, and I found out this morning that I hurt the ACL and LCL.

I’m going to need surgery. I had the same surgery on the left knee three years ago, and now it’s on the right knee.

So basically, Nogueira’s body is a ticking time bomb. But rest assured, he still wants another fight…

I want to recover and see what happens, but I want to fight. I was feeling great, had a great training camp for this fight. I was fast, but I couldn’t perform. I have to recover and start it all over again.

Well, at least we know that Nogueira has yet to actually see a video of the fight, because if he thinks he was faster than anything but a T-1000 covered in liquid nitrogen, he is sorely mistaken.

But who would you like to see Big Nog face when he returns from his latest surgery, Nation? A willow tree? A slowly-shifting tectonic plate? Father Time?

–J. Jones

And Now He’s Retiredish: Former WEC Featherweight Champion Mike Brown Says He “Won’t Fight Again”


(Brown ends the Faber Era™ at WEC 36. Photo via Getty.)

Following his unanimous decision win over Daniel Pineda at UFC 146, Mike Brown told Ariel Helwani that he was “getting near the end” of his mixed martial arts career, and that he would give himself two weeks to determine whether or not he would, or could, continue fighting. By the time those two weeks had come and gone, Brown had signed a five fight extension with the UFC. It was a hopeful sign for the former WEC featherweight champion, who had fallen on some hard times after reentering the UFC in 2011 only to suffer back-to-back decision losses.

Unfortunately, Brown’s next fight would see his original opponent, Akira Corassani, replaced by fellow TUF alum Steven Siler, who would in turn finish Brown with punches just under a minute into their preliminary card scrap at Fight Night 26. It was a fight I was personally on hand for, and one made all the more tough to watch as a big fan and follower of Brown’s 12 year career.

And now, it seems that Brown has finally decided to call it quits. Sort of.

In an interview with MMAJunkie published earlier today, Brown stated that he has decided to step away from the fighting aspect of MMA, but avoided using the big r-word in doing so.

I don’t think I’ll fight again,” Brown told MMAjunkie. “I haven’t retired, just in case, because I don’t want to be a guy who walks away and comes right back.”


(Brown ends the Faber Era™ at WEC 36. Photo via Getty.)

Following his unanimous decision win over Daniel Pineda at UFC 146, Mike Brown told Ariel Helwani that he was “getting near the end” of his mixed martial arts career, and that he would give himself two weeks to determine whether or not he would, or could, continue fighting. By the time those two weeks had come and gone, Brown had signed a five fight extension with the UFC. It was a hopeful sign for the former WEC featherweight champion, who had fallen on some hard times after reentering the UFC in 2011 only to suffer back-to-back decision losses.

Unfortunately, Brown’s next fight would see his original opponent, Akira Corassani, replaced by fellow TUF alum Steven Siler, who would in turn finish Brown with punches just under a minute into their preliminary card scrap at Fight Night 26. It was a fight I was personally on hand for, and one made all the more tough to watch as a big fan and follower of Brown’s 12 year career.

And now, it seems that Brown has finally decided to call it quits. Sort of.

In an interview with MMAJunkie published earlier today, Brown stated that he has decided to step away from the fighting aspect of MMA, but avoided using the big r-word in doing so.

I don’t think I’ll fight again,” Brown told MMAjunkie. “I haven’t retired, just in case, because I don’t want to be a guy who walks away and comes right back.”

It’s been an interesting road for the man who shockingly ended the Faber Era at WEC 36 back in 2008. After dethroning “The California Kid” that November night with what many considered a fluke TKO, Brown would validate the win with a dominant first round submission over Leonard Garcia and a dominate decision victory over Faber in their rematch at WEC 41 the following year. As bad luck would have it, Brown would be paired up with some guy named Jose Aldo in his next match, effectively ending his reign as the featherweight champion.

Brown would string together 4 wins beside 3 losses before the Siler fight, but it was the neck injury he suffered in the lead-up to his UFC on FOX 11-scheduled fight with Estevan Payan that finally forced him to accept the physical toll a decade-plus career had taken on his body:

I don’t think I’ll fight again. I haven’t retired, just in case, because I don’t want to be a guy who walks away and comes right back.

It’s hard when you’ve got only one hand that’s working properly. I can’t hold onto anything with my left. If I try to grab somebody’s wrist they can easily pull away because my strength is gone. Usually in a month or two, that strength comes back, but if I bang my head and get a stinger, it goes away again. It’s just continuously active.

His fighting career now in the rearview mirror, Brown says that he plans to focus on coaching over at American Top Team for now. With a 35 fight record that includes wins over Faber, Garcia, Mark Hominick, and Yves Edwards, it would be hard to say that he is under qualified for the gig.

Thanks for the memories, Mike.

–J. Jones

And Now He’s (Almost) Retired: Vladimir Matyushenko Calls It Quits in Advance, Before Bellator Fight With Joey Beltran

(This is probably the most modest, understated highlight reel I’ve ever seen. Very fitting, actually.)

After nearly 17 years as a professional MMA fighter, light-heavyweight veteran Vladimir Matyushenko has announced his retirement. Oddly enough, Matyushenko has a fight scheduled for next Friday, April 11th, where he’ll be facing Joey Beltran at Bellator 116. But in his mind, he’s already gone.

“This is my last fight,” the Janitor told Frank Trigg during an appearance on the “Toe to Toe With Trigg” interview show on MMAOddsbreaker earlier this week. “Doesn’t matter win or lose. That’s it. [I’ll start] training people, there’s a possibility to open my own gym again. Or I could go the complete opposite direction and work the railroad. I’ll be happy just keeping myself busy.”

I’m going to call it right now: Matyushenko is going to lose to Beltran — not that it really matters, even to Matyushenko himself. (“Doesn’t matter win or lose.”) Remember last month when Cyrille Diabate announced his retirement before his fight against Ilir Latifi, and then got choked out without attempting a single significant strike? Diabate’s desire to win had already left him. He was just fulfilling an obligation. That’s basically what’s happening here with Matyushenko.


(This is probably the most modest, understated highlight reel I’ve ever seen. Very fitting, actually.)

After nearly 17 years as a professional MMA fighter, light-heavyweight veteran Vladimir Matyushenko has announced his retirement. Oddly enough, Matyushenko has a fight scheduled for next Friday, April 11th, where he’ll be facing Joey Beltran at Bellator 116. But in his mind, he’s already gone.

“This is my last fight,” the Janitor told Frank Trigg during an appearance on the “Toe to Toe With Trigg” interview show on MMAOddsbreaker earlier this week. “Doesn’t matter win or lose. That’s it. [I’ll start] training people, there’s a possibility to open my own gym again. Or I could go the complete opposite direction and work the railroad. I’ll be happy just keeping myself busy.”

I’m going to call it right now: Matyushenko is going to lose to Beltran — not that it really matters, even to Matyushenko himself. (“Doesn’t matter win or lose.”) Remember last month when Cyrille Diabate announced his retirement before his fight against Ilir Latifi, and then got choked out without attempting a single significant strike? Diabate’s desire to win had already left him. He was just fulfilling an obligation. That’s basically what’s happening here with Matyushenko.

On the positive side, V-Mat enjoyed a long and mostly-successful MMA career which was highlighted by a light-heavyweight title reign during his 6-0 stint in the IFL, and 12 appearances in the UFC over two separate stints (2001-2003, 2009-2013), including a title fight against Tito Ortiz at UFC 33. Matyushenko put together a 27-7 lifetime record, with wins over guys like Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Tim Boetsch, Igor Pokrajac, and most recently Houston Alexander during his Bellator debut last September (which kind of sucked, to be honest). He helped launch the careers of Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson by serving as a reputable opponent that they could smash.

And now, the 43-year-old Belarusian is hanging up the gloves, perhaps to “work the railroad.” We wish Matyushenko the best with everything that comes next.

And Now He’s Retired: Jay Hieron Hangs It Up After a Decade in MMA

Jay Hieron announced his retirement from MMA competition today via twitter. He retires with a 23-7 record, accrued over 10 years of competition.

Jay Hieron announced his retirement from MMA competition today via twitter. He retires with a 23-7 record, accrued over 10 years of competition.

Hieron was truly one of the most well-traveled fighters in MMA. He fought for every big organization to grace the sport in the last era. He made his mark in Strikeforce, Bellator, the WEC, and the IFL. In the latter organization, he captured gold for the first and only time in his career, becoming the inaugural IFL welterweight champion.

Hieron’s success in the B-leagues of MMA never translated into success in the UFC, however. He lost all four of his fights in the world’s leading MMA organization. That doesn’t mean Hieron was a poor fighter though. He has wins over the likes of Pat Healy, Rick Story, Jason High, Rick Hawn, and Joe Riggs, (and debatably over Ben Askren). And for the most part, Hieron only lost to the best.

Hieron’s retirement signifies an ending era of MMA. There are few fighters of his ilk anymore—men who have fought for every would-be claimant to the UFC’s throne. The landscape is different now. The only organizations big enough to showcase talent aren’t big enough to keep it.

We wish Jay Hieron the best in his life outside the cage.