5 MMA legends who should have retired before turning 40

#4 Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman was the UFC's first heavyweight champion. His relentless ground and pound skills helped him demolish legendary names like Brian Johnston and Dan Severn before he captured the inaugural UFC heavyweight title in 1997.

Coleman then succumbed to three straight defeats that had him cut from the UFC. When he joined Pride FC, he fought Fedor Emelianenko on two occasions at age 40 and 42. Coleman lost both fights via submission, and their second outing was enough to trigger his retirement.

Still, 'The Hammer' decided to return to the UFC three years later and defeated Stephan Bonnar when he was 45. Coleman's last fight was opposite Randy Couture in 2010, which he lost via submission.

#OnThisDay 2010 The natural Randy couture took on mark coleman in the first fight ever between Two active Hall of famers @ufc @TheFightGame247 #legends pic.twitter.com/EBx5cKXx5H

— Paddy Brady (@BradyWacka) February 6, 2019

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#3 Ken Shamrock

Ken Shamrock competed in a multitude of MMA promotions. His aggressive nature and incredible submission game earned him the nickname of 'The World's Most Dangerous Man'.

Shamrock made his MMA debut in 1993. When he turned 40 in 2004, his fighting record stood at 26-8-2, which is more than impressive. With his formidable record in mind, the UFC pitted him opposite relatively younger fighters such as Tito Ortiz and Rich Franklin.

He fought Franklin at 41, and challenged Ortiz twice when he was 43. Shamrock failed to hang with his younger opponents as he lost nine of his 11 outings after he turned 40.

His last fight was against Royce Gracie at Bellator 149 in 2016. Both men were fighting each other for the third time. Shamrock lost the fight via TKO in the opening round.

February 19, 20162 years ago today, Royce Gracie defeated Ken Shamrock via TKO due to a knee & punches at 2:22 of the 1st round at Bellator 149. The fight was @realroyce first in 9 years, & controversial as he landed a knee to Shamrocks groin just before the TKO victory. pic.twitter.com/OJq7gMeZhf

— MMA Rewind (@MMA_Rewind) February 19, 2018

At 57, Shamrock is currently running his own bare knuckle boxing promotion, Valor. In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Shamrock spoke in detail about Valor Bare Knuckle.