(And here we thought Canadians were afraid of a good old fashioned war.)
It seems that lately it has become harder and harder to gauge what an MMA fighter means exactly by the word “retirement.” UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has finally come to terms with his, whereas Jamie Varner apparently retired as part of an elaborate heist that involved almost immediately coming out of said retirement, picking up a couple quick wins in a small promotion, filling in as a late injury replacement against a huge favorite, and promptly screwing millions of people out of their hard earned money. And to think, George Clooney need the help of more than a dozen people to rob some measly casino. Chump.
According to the man himself, we might just see long time UFC lightweight Spencer Fisher add his name to the list of recently retired MMA fighters come Friday night, as he told Ariel Helwani that he’s “pretty sure” it will be his last fight as a professional. His reasoning was similar to that of Chris Lytle’s — desire to spend more time with his family:
I’ve been missing a lot of stuff with my family. It gets tougher and tougher as they get older.
Although “The King” has flown under the radar for the past few years, dropping four of his past five contests, he is without a doubt one of the more exciting guys that helped the UFC’s lightweight division rise to popularity following its reinstatement in the promotion at UFC 58, which coincidentally was where Fisher made his lightweight debut against none other than his opponent on Friday, Sam Stout.
It is perhaps the most fitting end to a career that one could ask for.
Few can forget the pair’s first two meetings, which took place at UFC 58 and Ultimate Fight Night 10, respectively. The bouts were not only split between the two foes, but were in damn near every fan’s top ten fights of the year on both occasions. The third meeting promises to deliver the same back-and-forth action that we are used to, which is something that Fisher admits he is looking forward to:
No pressure. I want to go out there and fight. Swing for the fences. I don’t have to find him. He’ll be right there in the middle.
Aside from his pair of fights with Stout, the seven year UFC veteran is perhaps best known for his brilliant walk-off knockout of Matt Wiman at UFC 60. Even more beautiful than the knockout itself was what came just seconds before: As was the case when Rashad Evans decided to start shit talking to Lyoto Machida mid-flurry, Wiman decided that it would be best to let the crowd know he was fine following a right hand that Fisher clipped him with, and was immediately taught a lesson in octagon humility compliments of a flying knee that looked more like, as Couture described it, “a fullback running for the goal line from a yard away.”
Fisher also holds notable wins over Thiago Alves, Josh Neer, Aaron Riley, Dan Lauzon, Caol Uno, and Jeremy Stephens. If Friday truly does mark his final fight in the UFC, we here at CagePotato would like to thank Spencer for the years of great fights and wish him all the best in the future. We will leave you with another highlight of Fisher’s, one that came just a few months before his UFC debut, in which he sends TUF 12 veteran Kyle Watson crashing to the canvas with a brutal 1-2 combo and proceeds to perform the best impression of Chris Farley’s Chippendale dancer routine that we’ve ever seen:
(Fight starts at the 1:30 mark.)
Leave Spencer your best regards in the comments section, and make sure to swing by on Friday night, where some asshat you refer to as Danga will be liveblogging the UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida main card starting at 9 p.m. EST.