After 70 fights, Brian Ebersole has had enough.
The 34-year-old veteran fighter said he’ll retire following his UFC Fight Night 68 loss to Omari Akhmedov on Saturday night.
“I’m getting old, I’m getting up there,” Ebersole said. “I planned on retiring in November after the fight in Melbourne, but we’ll call it a night tonight. I’ve had a long career in MMA, a long career in wrestling and this (leg) has been bugging me throughout my camp. It was just lingering stuff. You try to go harder, and things start to flare up. I’ve been very bipolar in my training camp: sprint, rest, and rest longer, then wake up and sprint. It’s been a hard camp. The stress of worrying about being healthy and worrying about my performance – it’s too much.”
Ebersole (51-17-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) suffered a knee injury in the first round against Akhmedov (15-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) in their fight on UFC Fight Night 68’s preliminary card. It left Ebersole unable to answer the bell for the second round. It was his 70th career fight, including one no-contest not marked on his record.
“I’ve come a long way,” Ebersole said. “I cheated the system. I was a wrestler my whole life. Once I quit wrestling in college, this was the thing I turned to. I extended it another 15 years. I can gracefully hang ’em up and call it a day. The last couple of fights, I’ve really had to tough it out. Fighting Rick Story really hurt my lower back. I was seeing chiropractors every day for almost two weeks before the fight. That was terrible. Getting the win against John Howard, I thought about it, and was like, ‘Man, I’ve got one more year in me before I really settle down and life takes over and my wife wants to get back to work and resume her career.’ This year was me being greedy.”
LINK to full article: With 51 wins, Brian Ebersole announces retirement after UFC Fight Night 68 loss | MMAjunkie
