5 UFC legends who could retire in 2020
Every year in the UFC it seems we lose a handful of legendary fighters to retirement; some of them hang on way too long and leave the fans begging for them to hang up their gloves, while others shock the whole MMA world by stepping away seemingly in their prime.
2019 saw the likes of Alexander Gustafsson, Ben Askren, Jimi Manuwa and Cain Velasquez step away from the fight game, with a number of other less notable fighters also hanging it up, but there can be no doubt that others will join them this year.
Here are 5 UFC legends who could hang up their gloves in 2020.
#1 Andrei Arlovski
Former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski has appeared to have been on borrowed time in the promotion for some time now; he’s picked up just 1 win in his last 6 fights, and even went 0-5 from the start of 2016 to late 2017 before surprisingly resurrecting his career with 2 victories in a row.
Arlovski has been written off plenty of times before. Many fans called for him to hang up his gloves after his career took a slide in the early part of the last decade, and nobody really expected him to make it back to the UFC – let alone find himself in title contention at the start of 2016 after a stunning series of wins.
Now though, ‘The Pitbull’ finally feels like he’s reaching the end of his storied career. He’s 40 years old now and while he still hits hard, the speed that once marked him out as a truly dangerous Heavyweight has waned, and his chin is now easily crackable by the UFC’s heaviest hitters.
As of writing, Arlovski has no further fights scheduled, but assuming he does return in 2020, his next Octagon appearance could be his last.