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MMA is a grueling sport because of the toll it takes on fighters' health conditions. Fighters regularly undergo extraordinary training camps to push their bodies to the limit and then enter the octagon to treat their faces to a knuckle-fest. So it's only natural that fighters often face injuries and health conditions that force them to hang up their gloves too soon.
In the worst cases, some of these injuries have caused promising and fan-favourite fighters to retire against their's and their fans' wishes.
Let's take a look at five UFC fighters who had to prematurely retire due to health conditions.
#5 - David Michaud
David Michaud's professional MMA career started back in 2009. Just three years later, he was featured in Season 16 of The Ultimate Fighter.
While things could have gone better for 'BullDawg' on the fighting reality TV show, he worked things out and ended up in UFC by 2014. Inside the world's biggest MMA promotion, David Michaud lost his debut against Li Jingliang in 2014. A win later in 2014 via unanimous decision against Garett Whiteley was sandwiched between another defeat, against Olivier Aubin-Mercier in 2015.
Following a 1-2 record, David Michaud was released by the UFC. After his short stint, he made it to the other big leagues like RFA, LFA, Titan FC and Bellator, before PFL signed him up for their inaugural 2019 season.
In the PFL, David Michaud was set for probably the biggest fight of his life on April 29, 2021, against former Bellator champion Rory MacDonald. Only if Michaud had had a perfect health condition.
The main event was going to be the promotion's second show of the year to mark the beginning of their regular welterweight season. However, poor health conditions forced Michaud to call it quits on his MMA career.
The 32-year-old posted on his social media revealing his that his poor health condition had to do with his heart, which forced him towards retirement.
#4 - Dan Hardy
An early bird, Dan Hardy (25-10) started training in MMA at the age of 5. He went on to train in a handful of martial arts, including wushu, muay thai, boxing, karate, jiu-jitsu and judo.
Nicknamed 'The Outlaw', Hardy made his UFC debut in 2008, defeating Akihiro Gono via split decision. His biggest UFC fight came against George St-Pierre for the welterweight title in 2010, a fight he lost via decision after going the full length of five rounds.
Dan Hardy went 6-4 in the UFC with his last fight coming against Amir Sadollah in 2012, a win via unanimous decision. Poor health conditions soon marred the English MMA fighter's career.
In 2013, Hardy was expected to face Matt Brown. However, he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a fairly rare heart condition where an additional electrical pathway between the heart's chambers is detected, resulting in a rapid heartbeat.
Dan Hardy revealed his health condition in a series of tweets in 2013, albeit with a hint of humor.
The Outlaw was declared medically unfit to compete by the California State Athletic Commission, forcing him to step out of the octagon. In September 2020, the 38-year-old revealed that he was mulling a return to the octagon with his health condition getting better. However, the decision hasn't come to fruition yet.
Dan Hardy is still in the fight business, however, working as an analyst and a commentator for major sports networks like Sky Sports, Fox Sports and even the UFC.
#3 - Kenny Florian
Kenny Florian (14-6) had a rather successful MMA career and was one of only two UFC fighters to compete in four weight divisions. The fighter-turned-analyst failed to capture any UFC championships despite getting three opportunities to do so - against Sean Sherk, B.J. Penn and Jose Aldo.
After his loss against Jose Aldo for the UFC featherweight title at UFC 136, Kenny Florian stated that he would return to lightweight and would need six months to gain weight. Injuring his back just one month after the decision, Florian was still not worried as he had another five months to get ready for the heavier division.
When 'Ken Flo' got back to training after recovering from his back injury, he realized that he was constantly feeling numb in his right leg. This was due to a herniated disk in his back. Due to his poor health condition, Florian was advised by his orthopedics and neurologists to retire from MMA.
In May 2012, Kenny Florian decided to hang up his gloves, revealing his health condition and announcing his retirement during the weigh-ins for Season 15 of The Ultimate Fighter: Live.
#2 - Forrest Griffin
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin (19-7) was one of the first fighters to be inducted into the modern era wing of the UFC Hall of Fame (2013).
Forrest Griffin was the winner of the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, where he defeated Stephan Bonnar in the finale. The fight was declared the #1 UFC fight of all time in the UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights program and was termed as the "most important fight in UFC history" by Dana White.
Griffin went on to register a 10-5 record in the UFC with his last fight completing the trilogy between him and Tito Ortiz at UFC 148.
Forrest Griffin was expected to fight Chael Sonnen in a rematch in December 2012 at UFC 155. He was later set up against Phil Davis with Sonnen pulling out of the event. However, the American fighter's health condition didn't support his plans. It was announced on December 5 that Forrest had suffered an MCL tear and ACL strain.
In a 2012 interview with MMA hour, Griffin revealed that he had also been facing problems with one arm for the last three years. He officially retired in 2013 owing to his poor health condition.
He currently serves as the vice president of athlete development in the UFC.
#1 - Bas Rutten
As a former UFC heavyweight champion and three-time King of Pancrase world champion, Bas Rutten is a legend. On being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, the official statistics-provider FightMetric wrote about Rutten's accolades:
"In the 4-hours, 27-minutes and 8-seconds he spent as a pro fighter, Rutten scored 13 knockdowns without getting dropped himself, his significant strike accuracy was 70.6%, the highest FightMetric has ever recorded, attempted a record 53 submissions and successfully swept his opponents a record 46 times."
Aggrieved with his health condition, Bas Rutten retired in 1999 with a 28-4 professional record, having finished 25 of his 28 wins. The Dutch-American defeated Kevin Randleman in 1999 for the UFC heavyweight title and later vacated the title in order to move down to the light heavyweight class to conquer that division.
However, Bas Rutten never fought again in the UFC and retired in 1999 due to various issues with his health condition. Whilst training in 1999 after vacating his heavyweight belt, Rutten's health condition took a nosedive. He had blown out his knee, suffered a neck-injury and torn his bicep.
On doctor's orders, Rutten was forced to retire from MMA. However, he returned after seven years for a final fight as his health condition got a little better. In that fight, he won against Ruben Villareal via TKO after a number of lethal leg kicks.
In 2013, Rutten underwent neck surgery and revealed on Joe Rogan's Podcast that he was once unable to bicep-curl 5 pounds due to his messed up health condition.
