Top 10 MMA and UFC veterans that retired on a win

What is the hardest part about being an MMA fan, besides keeping up? Longtime fans will agree - watching your heroes fall from grace…

By: Eddie Mercado | 6 years ago
Top 10 MMA and UFC veterans that retired on a win
Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

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.

Photo by Sankei via Getty Images

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.

Photo by David Becker/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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.

Photo by Evan Hurd/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images

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.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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.

Photo by Susumu Nagao/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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.

Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

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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About the author
Eddie Mercado
Eddie Mercado

Eddie Mercado is a writer and content creator for Bloody Elbow, and has covered combat sports since 2015. Eddie covers everything from betting odds and live events, to fighter interviews and co-hosting the 6th Round post-fight show and the 6th Round Retro. He retired at 1-0 in professional MMA, competed in one Muay Thai match in Thailand, and is currently a purple belt in Jiu-Jitsu under the great Diego Bispo.

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