10 UFC Fighters Who Need To Retire

Telling a fighter to hang up the gloves is never easy. Fighters are a tough bunch, and many of them are prone to go out on their shield - which can be extremely bad for their health. Think of Chuck Liddell at the end of his career, getting knocked out frequently in highlight reel fashion. Dana White had to sit him down and have "the talk" and convince him to retire. Well, Liddell is far from an isolated case, he just happens to have had a close friend in White who was also his boss. White has stated that he's reluctant to force fighters to retire, but he will call for it when necessary, and with good cause: it looks poorly on his organization when fighters are entering the cage only to be used as practice dummies, and getting beat up and hurt in the process. Long term, fighters have to consider the possibility of developing Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), a condition taken on from suffering multiple concussions which has been found in hockey players, football players, and combat sports practitioners in general and which leads to degeneration of the brain tissue resulting early dementia, bringing about memory loss, depression, and other related symptoms. And of course there is Dementia Pugilistica, a variant of CTE first observed in boxers that develops over a lengthy period of time (upwards of a decade) and that is commonly referred to as being "punch-drunk" or "punch-drunk syndrome" - and is believed to affect up to 20% of pro boxers. While less focus has been put on MMA fighters (who often have fewer fights in their career, and take fewer shots to the head), the disease is still a concern. Former UFC fighter Gary Goodridge was diagnosed with Dementia Pugilistica in 2012, after retiring from both MMA and kickboxing in 2010. Over the course of his career, spanning the two sports, Goodridge had been in over 80 bouts, and was knocked out over 20 times. So how does one judge when a fighter needs to call it a day? There is of course the Liddell scenario. There are also cases where fighters are simply past their prime, no longer relevant, no longer in the title picture - and financially secure. If they're in this situation, and losing more than they are winning, they'd be best served to swallow their pride and hang up the gloves. Again, it's hard to force any fighter into retirement - but here are 10 UFC fighters who really should call it a day.