5 UFC Fighters Who Need To Retire
Fighting is a young man's game. That is a truism that has held legitimate for centuries. A young man is quicker, stronger and finds it much easier to get up after being knocked down.
The more years on a body clock make all of those attributes that much harder.
Time waits for no one and in MMA it appears to be extremely difficult for certain fighters to let go of past glories.
Hey, it has happened to the best of them. One of the biggest stars of the early UFC era was "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock. Shamrock had it all; size, strength, agility, punching power and a devastating arsenal of submission skills.
Shamrock dominated the competition in UFC and Pancrase, defeating names such as Bas Rutten (twice), Dan Severn, Kimo and Maurice Smith.
When he departed UFC to join the World Wrestling Federation in 1997, the desire to fight for real still burned within Shamrock and he signed on with Japanese promotion, Pride FC in early 2000. At the age of 36, he knew that he had a limited window in which to fulfill his ambitions.
Shamrock's return initially, was a successful one. He became the first man to stop Alexander Otsuka in regulation time via Knockout and in his final Pride bout of his contract in February 2002, he contested the fight of the year with Don Frye, in which he lost a very close split decision.
However, when he returned to UFC later in 2002 at UFC 40 versus Tito Ortiz, it was clear his best days were behind him. Multiple knee surgeries had hampered his ability to take opponents down, which was his best weapon and also sapped his mobility.
Ortiz outclassed the veteran three times in total as the Shamrock legend faded in front of the world. The UFC icon would continue to fight on and off until 2017; a full 20 years past his prime. Unfortunately, embarrassing defeats would become the norm, not the exception as he was soundly defeated by limited fighters such as Mike Bourke and Kimbo Slice.
More recently, the UFC has seen many of it's once, best fighter's legends vanish into the dust as they struggle to keep pace with younger combatants.
In this slideshow, SK looks at five UFC fighters who should hang up the gloves at the earliest opportunity.
#5 Gray Maynard
Gray Maynard's classic series of fights with Lightweight Champion, Frankie Edgar seem like a very long time ago now. Maynard was once one of the most dynamic and entertaining fighters in the entire UFC.
Maynard did not taste defeat for the first five years of his MMA career but when tat first loss came versus Edgar at UFC 136 on October 8, 2011, it spelt the beginning of a decline for Maynard in which he has never recovered.
Maynard won his next fight but then lost his next four in a row and was lucky not be cut by the promotion.
This once excellent fighter has only tasted victory in the Octagon twice in the past five years.
A return to Lightweight in his most recent fight at UFC 229 did not improve his fortunes as he was knocked out by veteran journeyman Nik Lentz.
Maynard should see nothing but retirement in his future.