
What is the hardest part about being an MMA fan, besides keeping up? Longtime fans will agree – watching your heroes fall from grace by way of getting brutally beat up right before your eyes can be rather difficult to stomach.
In other sports, you sometimes see career-ending injuries, but by and large there are ample cases of athletes riding off into the sunset after finishing up their careers with a couple of not-so-great seasons. So your favorite player isn’t as sharp, athletic, or even putting up the same numbers as he or she once did in their prime; big deal.
When it comes to combat sports, when our heroes start to fade, the sight can be quite disturbing. A lot of guys go the Ken Shamrock and Takanori Gomi route, losing routinely in devastating fashion, but there are a select few O.G.’s who went out by way of the winner’s circle. Bloody Elbow has compiled a list of your top-ten MMA vets who left the sport on a W. Let us know who we missed in the comment section.
Top-10 MMA veterans that went out on a win:
**arranged by year of retirement
1.
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Rickson Gracie 11-0 (400-0)
- Last fight- Technical Submission of Masakatsu Funaki on 5/26/2000
- First official MMA bout in 1980
- Finished each of his 11 MMA bouts (2 KO, 9 Sub)
- Rumored to have a combined record of 400-0 across multiple combative disciplines
2.
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Guy Mezger 30-14-2
- Last fight – TKO of Daniel Bergman on 12/6/2003
- Veteran of UFC, Pancrase, and PRIDE FC
- UFC 13 middleweight tournament winner (200 pounds)
- First person to defeat Tito Ortiz in a professional MMA match
3.
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Bas Rutten 28-4-1
- Last fight – TKO of Ruben Villareal on 7/22/2006
- Legendary run as King of Pancrase
- Won UFC heavyweight title in 1999 by defeating Kevin Randlemen at UFC 20
- Put the ‘Liver Shot’ on the map
4.
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Pat Miletich 29-7
- Last fight – KO of Thomas Denny on 12/11/2008
- UFC 16 welterweight tournament winner
- Defeated Mikey Burnett at UFC 17.5 to become the 1st ever UFC welterweight champion
- Founder of Miletich Fighting Systems and coach of multiple world champions (Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia, Robbie Lawler, etc.)
5.
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Chris Lytle 31-18-5
- Last fight – Submission of Dan Hardy on 8/11/2011
- Competed in MMA while simultaneously holding down a job as a firefighter
- The Ultimate Fighter Season 4 finalist
- Finished career with 22 submission wins
6.
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Kazuo Misaki 25-11-2
- Last fight – Decision over Paul Daley on 3/3/2012
- 2006 PRIDE welterweight Grand Prix winner
- Retired on a three-fight winning streak
7.
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Dan Severn 101-19-7
- Last fight – Decision over Alex Rozman on 4/28/2012
- Won over 100 sanctioned MMA matches
- UFC 4 tournament finalist
- UFC 5 tournament winner
- UFC 7.5 tournament winner
8.
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Forrest Griffin 19-7
- Last fight – Decision over Tito Ortiz on 7/7/2012
- Put MMA on the mainstream map with his Ultimate Fighter Season 1 Finale iconic war with Stephan Bonnar
- The Ultimate Fighter Season 1 winner
- Won the UFC light heavyweight title by defeating Quinton Jackson at UFC 86
9.
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Pedro Rizzo 20-11
- Last fight – TKO of Andrew Flores Smith on 9/12/2015
- 3x UFC heavyweight title challenger
- One of the first MMA pioneers to devastate with leg kicks
- Has fought every heavyweight legend under the sun, from Fedor Emelianenko to Randy Couture and everything in between
10.
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Urijah Faber 34-10
- Last fight- Decision over Brad Pickett on 12/17/2016
- Held WEC featherweight belt for over two years
- 4x UFC bantamweight title challenger
- Founder of Team Alpha Male and world champion coach
Candidates if they can remain retired:
Royce Gracie 15-2-3
- Last fight – TKO win over Ken Shamrock on 2/19/16
Tito Ortiz 19-12-1
- Last fight – Submission of Chael Sonnen on 1/21/2017
Matt Brown 21-16
- Last fight – KO win over Diego Sanchez on 11/11/17
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