The UFC have confirmed that middleweight fighter Costas Philippou has decided to call time on his career at the age of 35.
Philippou had been competing professionally in mixed martial arts for the past seven years, and joined the UFC in 2011 after a long stint in the Ring Of Combat organization where he’d compiled a 7-1 (+1nc) record.
His UFC career got off to an underwhelming start with a decision loss to Nick Catone, but he quickly rebounded and went on a five fight winning streak that marked him out as a genuine contender in the UFC’s middleweight division heading into 2013.
However, he then came began to come unstuck with losses to both Francis Carmont and Luke Rockhold.
A first round KO victory against Lorenz Larkin last year suggested that Philippou still had plenty to offer, but injuries hampered his progress and it was a full year before his next fight in May of this year against Gegard Mousasi which he lost by unanimous decision.
That left him with three losses in his last four fights, but Philippou was still ranked at No.12 in the 185lb division.
However, yesterday he was removed from the UFC’s rankings and his Twitter account was changed to private, which led to speculation that was put to rest when UFC exec Dave Scholler confirmed that Philippou had opted to hang up his gloves.
Philippou retires from the sport with an overall 13-5 (+1nc) record.
