5 UFC fighters who should retire in 2019

2018 has seen numerous retirements from MMA, as amongst others, former UFC champions Michael Bisping, Rashad Evans and Johny Hendricks all hung up their gloves.

2019 is likely to see more of the same, as ageing fighters – some of whom date their UFC careers back over a decade – decide enough is enough.

So who will decide to hang it up for good? Nobody can really be sure, as it’s a well-known fact in MMA that some fighters tend to keep going for way too long while others – like Anthony Johnson – suddenly decide to retire and surprise everyone.

The following 5 fighters though have all showed signs that the end is nigh, or at least it ought to be. Here are 5 UFC fighters who should consider retirement in 2019.

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#1 Diego Sanchez

Sanchez's once-legendary iron chin seems to have been cracked now

The Middleweight winner of the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter way back in 2005, Diego Sanchez has been a staple of the Octagon for well over a decade now.

‘The Nightmare’ has fought in four different weight classes, ranging from 185lbs all the way down to 145lbs, and he’s stepped into the Octagon on a crazy 28 occasions for some truly memorable UFC classics. He’s even scheduled for a fight in March at UFC 235 against Mickey Gall.

So why should Diego hang it up? Well, it all comes down to durability with this one. Sanchez was once renowned for having one of the toughest chins in all of MMA; fights against BJ Penn, Jake Ellenberger, Martin Kampmann and Gilbert Melendez saw him take insane punishment and never stop coming forward with a snarl on his face.

It seemed impossible to hurt the guy – something backed up by the fact that by 2016, he’d only ever been stopped once – due to a cut in his fight with Penn.

That’s not the case anymore, however. Diego was stopped by Joe Lauzon via TKO in July 2016 and since then he’s been finished by both Al Iaquinta and Matt Brown, both in devastating fashion.

His once-granite chin is well and truly cracked now, and while he seems fine in interviews, you have to question how much damage his brain has taken over the years.

As it stands, Diego’s grappling skill and stamina still look as good as they’ve ever done, and that might be enough to take him past Gall. But he can’t avoid fighting strikers forever and there’s simply no need for him to take any more damage.

He’s a true UFC legend who has some of the best fights of all time under his belt, but it’s time for him to stop in 2019 for his own health.

#2 Jim Miller

Veteran Jim Miller looks physically shot at this stage after years of action

New Jersey legend Jim Miller recently completed a decade of action inside the UFC Octagon, and with 31 bouts to his name, he holds the record for the most UFC fights in promotional history.

But while that record probably won’t last forever, it almost certainly shouldn’t be added to by Miller himself.

Miller’s UFC record currently stands at an impressive 18-12 with one No Contest, but it’d be hard to deny that his best years are now behind him.

Sure, he picked up a victory in September by choking out Alex White, but prior to that he’d lost 4 in a row, and it seems that the skills that once pushed him into the top 5 of the UFC’s most stacked weight division – 155lbs – are now waning.

Miller just doesn’t look as physically imposing as he once did, and that means that his tremendous grappling game is becoming harder and harder to impose on his opponent.

And to add to that, at 35 years old he’s much slower than he once was, meaning he’s easier to hit than he was in his prime, and his stamina isn’t as impressive, either.

Realistically, a battle with Lyme Disease that began in late 2013 probably forced his downward slide to come quicker than it would’ve done had he remained healthy – once he’d began to control the disease he did go on a three-fight win streak in 2016 – but it’s hard to see a future for the New Jersey veteran past 2019.

One last fight probably wouldn’t be too bad of an idea, but after that he ought to hang his gloves up for good.

#3 Thiago Alves

A decade ago, Thiago Alves was one of the world's most feared Welterweights

One of the longest tenured fighters on the current UFC roster, Thiago Alves debuted all the way back in 2005 with a loss to Spencer Fisher, and since then he’s put together 24 appearances in the Octagon, including 14 wins.

Between 2008 and 2010 he was one of the most feared Welterweights on the whole roster and even held wins over the likes of Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck.

That was a long time ago though, and recently, the Brazilian veteran has fallen on hard times. He’s fought only sporadically since 2012, with just one fight in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and his last five fights have seen him suffer four losses.

Prior to 2018 however, Alves had always appeared durable enough even if his speed and reflexes had begun to wane somewhat. His 2017 win over Patrick Cote saw him look as good as he ever had, for instance.

But almost a year later he stepped into the Octagon against Curtis Millender and was simply destroyed by the newcomer, physically overwhelmed in the same way that Alves himself had done to foes like Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Tony DeSouza a decade earlier. It wasn’t a competitive fight in any way.

Another loss – albeit a less devastating one – to Alexey Kunchenko has since followed, and although Alves is currently booked to fight Max Griffin in February, ‘Pitbull’ ought to consider calling it a day after that fight win or lose.

He’s just not as great a physical specimen at 35 years old that he was at 25, and he has nothing more to prove in the UFC after a decade of action. Why should he take any further punishment?

#4 Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua

Former UFC champ Shogun Rua is now miles past his prime

A true legend of MMA, ‘Shogun’ Rua remains one of the few fighters to hold major titles in both the UFC and PRIDE, as he won the PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix, and then followed that by claiming the UFC Light-Heavyweight title in 2010.

Any knowledgeable MMA fan would undoubtedly name him as one of the best 205lbs fighters of all time. But it’s hard to deny that the Brazilian is now way past his prime.

Sure, he was able to pick up his 10th UFC victory over Tyson Pedro earlier this month, but he was definitely in big trouble at points during that fight, wobbled by the Aussie on more than one occasion.

It’s a trend that’s become ever-more common for Shogun recently, as he seems to get badly hurt in all of his fights these days, as we saw when he was finished violently by Anthony Smith in July.

That loss broke a three-fight win streak for the legend, but even that run wasn’t as impressive as it sounds – one fight came in 2015, one in 2016 and one in 2017, and that final one came in a wild brawl with Gian Villante that could easily have gone either way.

Essentially, ‘Shogun’ hasn’t looked great since his 2013 win over James Te Huna – an age ago in MMA terms.

Most likely, that’s because he’s suffered from some bad injuries in his career, and he’s had to deal with more than one serious knee surgery.

That was the case as far back as 2011, but back then Shogun was still in his early 30’s and clearly had some durability left.

But that isn’t the case now – he’s 37 and he’s been fighting in crazy wars for almost two decades. Enough is enough, and this legend needs to hang up his gloves for his own good in 2019.

#5 Stefan Struve

Stefan Struve has taken some horrendous punishment in his UFC career

Heavyweight is renowned for being a division suited to older fighters – the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Alistair Overeem and Fabricio Werdum – men who seem to have been around forever – are all still highly relevant near the summit, and even the ripe old age of 40 doesn’t seem quite as ancient at Heavyweight as it would elsewhere.

The problem that comes with fighting at Heavyweight, of course, is one of sheer damage. The big men hit far harder than fighters in the smaller divisions and thus it’s easy to see exactly why a knockout at Heavyweight can cause far more harm than one at say, Lightweight.

And one man in the UFC who’s taken more damage than most at Heavyweight is Stefan Struve.

‘Skyscraper’ is only 30 years old – far younger than the likes of Overeem and Arlovski – and yet in his 39-fight career, which dates back to 2005, he’s taken seven horrific knockouts. That number is admittedly less than some of his peers, but Struve appears to be hurt or stunned in almost every one of his fights, even ones where he’s come back to win.

Essentially, despite standing at 7’0” tall and having an insane reach of 84.5”, Struve has never quite figured out how to use his size to his advantage – his jab, which ought to be a ramrod, has never properly worked for him and his chin remains worryingly high in most of his fights – making it an easy target for some of the sport’s heaviest hitters.

Struve has been getting hurt in his fights in the UFC for almost a decade now but right now he’s probably at his lowest point – he’s lost three in a row and the dangerous ground game he once boasted appears to be waning as well.

That’s why it’s time for the giant Dutchman to step away from the sport – for his own good before he ends up taking one knockout too many.