Although he’s only 33-years-old, Gegard Mousasi is considering retirement after accumulating multiple world titles and beating some of the best names in the business.
That may come as a disappointment to some fans, especially after his career-defining championship performance last month, when he outclassed and TKO’d welterweight champ Rory MacDonald in the Bellator 206 main event.
It hasn’t all been smooth sailings, however, as ‘The Dreamcatcher’ feared the worst after his grueling Bellator debut against Alexander Shlemenko in 2017.
Bloodied but not beaten, Mousasi walked away with the unanimous decision win but almost lost his eye in the process. The multi-promotion champion and former UFC middleweight contender told Luke Thomas all the gory details and admitted that he is concerned about his long-term health.
“People didn’t see what happened after [the Shlemenko] fight,” Mousasi said on a recent edition of The MMA Hour, per MMA Fighting’s Jose Youngs. “I was in a hospital. I couldn’t move and I didn’t know if I lose my eye or not. People didn’t see those parts. I didn’t know [if I lost my eye] because the doctors were talking. My eye was shut. They didn’t know what was wrong with my eye. So for a long time I was in the dark. So we didn’t know. Thank god it was no serious injury to the eye. But yeah, I can’t fight like that. I want to make money but I want to end up healthy. I don’t want to be a retard after three [fights].
“Normally I don’t take any damage,” he continued. “But, like I said, if you fight 100 times, eventually you’re going to see a punch that you’re not going to see or it’s going to land in the wrong place. That’s what happened. [Shlemenko] got me in the first minute and s—t happens.”
With just three fights left on his Bellator contract, the reigning middleweight champion is thinking about hanging up the gloves in the near-future. With that said, Mousasi could be tempted to continue defending his title if he avoids taking any significant damage in his next three bouts.
“If I have wins like [at Bellator 206] and I don’t take damage and I’m just winning without any damage without any injury, of course I could go another three fights,” said Mousasi. “But to be honest I’m looking to see how the next three fights will go and then to be honest, I’ll quit, yeah.”
If he does retire, Mousasi will be remembered as one of the greatest middleweights of all-time. The Iranian-born fighter holds wins over the likes of Dan Henderson, Chris Weidman, Vitor Belfort and even former UFC heavyweight title challenger Mark Hunt. Unlike most fighters, however, Mousasi doesn’t care about legacy – he just wanted to win fights and make money.
“I really don’t care,” Mousasi said about his legacy. “My goal was never to be the best. I always wanted to make my money, and, of course, I always wanted to win my fight. Because if you keep winning, people got to say ‘yeah, he is the best middleweight.’ But to be honest I don’t care.”
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