Ryan LaFlare ‘likely’ will retire following UFC 229 loss

A decade after his professional mixed martial arts debut, UFC veteran Ryan LaFlare decided to hang up his gloves.

The 35-year-old welterweight, who headlined a UFC event once throughout his 10-fight run inside the Octagon, facing two-division title challenger Demian Maia in Brazil, announced his decision to retire from the sport days following a third-round knockout defeat to Tony Martin at UFC 229, which took place Oct. 6 in Las Vegas.

”Saturday night didn’t go my way,” LaFlare wrote. “This is a very unforgiving sport. You either win or lose. You have to be ‘ALL IN’ to be successful. Mentally I wanted to be there but I have been plagued with injuries this camp as well as my whole career and tried to fight through them and keep a positive attitude but as I started making my final weight cut I started breaking down.

”I’ve always told myself the second I’m not there mentally and physically I will be hanging my gloves up. I’m too proud and passionate about this sport to not give it everything I have and my body is really starting to pay the toll. After 10+ years as a professional mixed martial artist and 5+ years with the UFC it hurts to say this but Saturday October 6th was most likely the last fight of my professional career.”

A former Ring of Combat welterweight titleholder, LaFlare leaves the sport with a 14-3 record, being 7-3 under the UFC banner with wins over the likes of Santiago Ponzinibbio, Court McGee and Mike Pierce.

Read LaFlare’s official statement below.