Outside Source
Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight Ryan LaFlare is calling it a career.
LaFlare announced his decision via Instagram on Wednesday. The 35-year-old New York native appeared at UFC 229 this past weekend, where he suffered a third-round knockout loss to Tony Martin in a preliminary bout.
“Saturday night didn’t go my way. This is a very unforgiving sport. You either win or lose. You have to be ‘ALL IN’ to be successful. Mentally I wanted to be there but I have been plagued with injuries this camp as well as my whole career and tried to fight through them and keep a positive attitude but as I started making my final weight cut I started breaking down,” LaFlare wrote. “I’ve always told myself the second I’m not there mentally and physically I will be hanging my gloves up. I’m too proud and passionate about this sport to not give it everything I have and my body is really starting to pay the toll.
“After 10 [plus] years as a professional mixed martial artist and 5 [plus] years with the [UFC] it hurts to say this but Saturday [Oct. 6] was most likely the last fight of my professional career.”
LaFlare went 7-3 during his tenure with the Las Vegas-based promotion, earning notable wins over the likes of Santiago Ponzinibbio, Court McGee, Mike Pierce and Alex Garcia. He also headlined UFC Fight Night 62 in March 2015 against Demian Maia, losing a five-round verdict to the Brazilian grappler.
LaFlare began his career with the Ring of Combat promotion, where he won seven straight fights before signing with the UFC. LaFlare ends his pro career with a 14-3 mark, including four wins by KO/TKO and three via submission.
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
