Long-time UFC fighter Mac Danzig has announced his retirement from the sport of mixed martial arts at the age of 34.
The former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ winner cites health concerns as the main reason for his decision to hang up his gloves after 13 years of competing in the cage.
“Really, the only physical cue for me to step back from competition came last year, when I began to suffer repeated concussions in training, leading up to what would end up being my first ever actual knockout loss, in July,” Danzig wrote on his Tumbler account. “After that, my ability to take hard strikes in training without losing consciousness began to deteriorate rapidly. After 14 years of training and taking shots like a champ, my brain was finally telling me to chill out.”
He admits that it’s been hard to come to the decision, but given what he’s been experiencing it seems that he’s definitely making the right choice.
Danzig was an experienced fighter before he joined the UFC, notching up a 16-4-1 record and having become a defending King Of The Cage lightweight champion by 2007 when he successfully applied to be a cast member on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ Season 6.
Prior to that he’d actually suffered back-to-back losses, but things click into place for him again on TUF and he carved a path through the competition, eventually submitting Tommy Speers to win the show.
Danzig’s results inside the Octagon were very much a mixed bag though, picking up notable wins over the likes of Mark Bocek, Efrain Escudero and Joe Stevenson, but also suffering two seperate three fight losing streaks, the second of which now marks the end of his career, leaving him 5-8 in the Octagon and 21-12-1 overall.
He’s unsure what he wants to do next, but it would seem he has a number of options as he’s keen to continue in MMA in some capacity, whether through teaching, coaching, seminars or perhaps work with the UFC, while he’s also a talented photographer and directed a music video for rapper Jus Allah in the past year.
