The last few days have been all the rage for UFC retirements.
Former UFC title challenger Anthony Smith hung up the gloves over the weekend after 60 fights. Smith left the sport in a pool of his own blood, TKO’ed by Mingyang Zhang at UFC Kansas City.
The UFC paid tribute to ‘Lionheart’ with a three-minute long video recapping his career.
Not long after that, the oldest fighter on the UFC roster 42-year-old Vinc Pichel decided to call it a career as well, walking away from the premier promotion with a winning record.
Smith and Pichel did, however, retire on a three-fight losing skid with another fighter experiencing a similar fate at a much younger age.
UFC Bantamweight Dan Argueta announces MMA retirement
At 31 years old, Daniel Argueta has decided to retire from MMA.
Argueta’s coming off a rough 2024 in the UFC, having lost back-to-back fights to a 14-0 Jean Matsumoto and a 7-1 Cody Haddon in October.
Missing weight by a couple of pounds in his last fight, Argueta says the UFC recently cut him from his contract.
“It’s with a heavy heart that today I’ve decided to hang up my gloves,” Argueta confirmed his MMA retirement on Instagram.
“After receiving news of the UFC not giving me the opportunity to finish out the final fight on my contract, I’ve ultimately decided to turn the page and start writing my next chapter.
“With that being said fighting indeed saved my life. I gave it my all every-time I stepped into an Octagon and that’s something I’m at peace with. This opportunity taught me more about myself than anything else. It molded me into the man that can handle becoming the best version of himself, it helped me find my best friend and soon to be beautiful wife, and it showed me that I CAN do anything I set my mind to.
“To everyone that believed in me and supported me, thank you. I’m sorry I couldn’t achieve more in the sport. I had big dreams and was willing to go until the wheels fell off but God had other plans for me.
“To my family, friends, team I promise to always bring the same enthusiasm, laughter, & DETERMINATION with me wherever I go in life. It’s the least I can do.”
Dan Argueta breaks up with MMA: ‘You’re a cruel S.O.B.’
While a decent amount of MMA retirements are short-lived with fighters eventually coming back, Argueta says that isn’t the case for him.
The 31-year-old is closing the door on the fight game and he isn’t looking back.
“To the roughest, toughest, most demanding job on earth (Next to being a parent). You’re a cruel son of a b****,” Argueta said of fighting in the cage.
“But, I’ll always love what we had. This isn’t a maybe we’ll get back together. This is a goodbye. Opportunity awaits.”
Daniel Argueta began his MMA career in 2017, turning pro in 2019.
Argueta went 5-0 in the LFA where he became the promotion’s bantamweight champion. The former LFA champ was also a contestant on ‘The Ultimate Fighter 29’, losing to the winner of that season Ricky Turcios.
Argueta had one sole victory in the UFC, giving Nick Aguirre his first loss in 2023.
Argueta went without a win in his next four fights with two no-contest results in a row, one due to a referee error and the other because Argueta’s opponent Miles Johns tested positive for turinabol, the same steroid Jon Jones was suspended for in 2017 after his rematch with Daniel Cormier.
Like Jones, Johns initially won but the result was later overturned due to the positive drug test.