After four losses in a row, Dennis Bermudez finally got back to winning ways on Saturday night at UFC On ESPN+ 1 with a unanimous decision victory over Te Edwards, but he then got on he mic and announced he was retiring from the sport.
The 32-year-old Bermudez admitted backstage that thoughts of hanging up his gloves had been on his mind prior to the fight, but he hadn’t yet made up his mind.
“If I came in here with, ‘This is definitely my last fight,’ what am I looking forward to?” Bermudez told the media post-fight. “So I was looking to come in and put on my best performance and almost feel invincible, or end him in the first round where I’m like, ‘Give me somebody else.’
“But it was a tiring fight for me a little bit, even though it may not look like it. I would’ve liked there to be more blood and maybe me break his arm or something like that, but it wasn’t the case. He kept blocking his face. So, in my eyes, it wasn’t exciting, but I got the win. Nobody’s going to remember that wasn’t exciting. They’re going to remember I won.”
However, there was a moment during that fight that seemed to signal to Bermudez that it really was time to bring an end to his 10-year career.
“In the first round, he hooked up and hit me pretty hard and stumbled me down, and he was right in my face, and I was like, ‘I don’t feel like doing this right now… For, you know, maybe 20 seconds I was like, ‘Maybe I just let this guy win.’ You know? And then I got to his leg, and I was like, ‘Nah, you ain’t gonna win, dog.’ But the fact that I had this little conversation with myself for 20 seconds in a fist fight. When I was younger, I would never ever ever think that – ever.”
Nevertheless, Bermudez did get the win, and he’s glad he got to end his career on a high note.
“It’s pretty awesome that I get to do it here in New York. I’ve been through some stuff. I thought about hanging up the gloves after those four losses in a row. And I want my kids to look back on this, and even though I went through adversity, I finished on top.”
Bermudez bows out of the sport with an overall 17-9 record, including victories over the likes of Max Holloway, Clay Guida and Tatsuya Kawajiri.
