is really that hard to retire or stay retired in this sport?

Ivancho

Ivancho

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Why Guys like overeem who has been koed 15 times or something like that or chuck lidell etc, doesnt retire? is really that hard, money will not buy own health.
Cte take a couple of years to develop but once started you cant do nothing to stop it
 
Sometime is pride, sometimes is money. Overeem made over 800k for his last fight. It's hard to retire when you are making that kind of money...
 
Some guys like to wait for their bodies to retire them instead.
 
Fighting is all most of these guys know. They have nowhere to turn and no purpose in life without fighting, so yes it's incredibly difficult to give it up. And pf course, money is obviously a huge factor as well, as most guys don't make enough in their career/save and invest it well enough to set them up financially after the fights end in their late 30's.
 
Ivancho said:
Why Guys like overeem who has been koed 15 times or something like that or chuck lidell etc, doesnt retire? is really that hard, money will not buy own health.
Cte take a couple of years to develop but once started you cant do nothing to stop it
Click to expand...
Most top fighters got used getting easy money. Piles of it.
Then they retire (usually young), and they forget that it's not only the money from fights that will stop. Endorsements will go away as well.
plus they get back the itch...

...and the pay (for coming back) is always good....

why not?
 
Lets see, your typical UFC fighter makes it to the "Big Leagues" in their early 20s. Lets say they fight until 40. So they have 20 years(unrealistic i know) of a career. They will start off making nothing and probably wont make any real money until they are pushing 30. So then they have 10 years to cash in the big money. Even if they dont get injured and dont spend it like its endless they still have to invest/manage it correctly to retire on it.

No professional fighter is going to go work for someone else and make chump change after making a couple hundred grand per fight. Most fighters though dont manage their money well enough to stay retired into their elderly years. Once they start to feel the financial pinch right around 50 it seems, they start to look for another fight.
 
I can imagine it is hard to live a normal life after having flown so high. I mean how amazing must that rush be having all the fans erupt after you knockout your opponent
 
1.passion for what they do
2.when you make the kind of money Overeem does its hard to turn away from that
3.some spend their money reckless/make bad business decisions and don't have a choice
 
Ken Shamrock will fight Sage Northcutt in a double retirement match. After it Ken will come out of retirement.
 
Blayt7hh said:
I can imagine it is hard to live a normal life after having flown so high. I mean how amazing must that rush be having all the fans erupt after you knockout your opponent
Click to expand...

The thrill of victory and the desire to compete is probably the second biggest reason fighters come back.
 
Do something for 20-30 years then quit suddenly

You're gonna wanna do that shit again soon
 
Overeem makes 500k to show only off of reebok sponsors. I doubt he's hurting for cash, I think alot of these dudes just get lost caught up in the glory and action always training instead of branching out to other things to help increase your yearly income.

There is exceptions however: GSP, Conor, and Tyrone are able to leave the sport for a year and comeback looking fine. They are all rich outside of MMA (except Tyrone maybe)
 
Shaddows said:
Most top fighters got used getting easy money. Piles of it.
Then they retire (usually young), and they forget that it's not only the money from fights that will stop. Endorsements will go away as well.
plus they get back the itch...

...and the pay (for coming back) is always good....

why not?
Click to expand...
well the 'why not' is pretty easy. Health. Most guys retire because they are loosing and taking pretty bad abuse.

Its funny because the only thing harder than going out on a win, because you think you still got it and can keep piling on wins, is going out on a loss. You see so many guys who talked about retiring, knew they should retire, but stayed too long and KTFO think 'I just need to back on the win side' and maybe they grab that win after a few more bad losses but then instead of retiring on that win people convince them 'they are back' and they think they have another run in them and instead go on more ugly losing streaks.

But in the end they are grown adults who know the risks so...
 
MikeMcMann said:
well the 'why not' is pretty easy. Health. Most guys retire because they are loosing and taking pretty bad abuse.

Its funny because the only thing harder than going out on a win, because you think you still got it and can keep piling on wins, is going out on a loss. You see so many guys who talked about retiring, knew they should retire, but stayed too long and KTFO think 'I just need to back on the win side' and maybe they grab that win after a few more bad losses but then instead of retiring on that win people convince them 'they are back' and they think they have another run in them and instead go on more ugly losing streaks.

But in the end they are grown adults who know the risks so...
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Well... again, most of the fighters would claim that they are just tired of the constant punishment.
But once they stop and rest, the invariable excuse of "I took some time off and healed up" itch comes back.

Like you said: No one wants to leave on a loss, but no one leaves on a win period.

But IMO beyond that, they would be fighting other guys like them, not monsters at their peak. So it is a fair game IMO.
 
It's a combination of a few things but being born to fight and money are the two main factors imho. Guys like Chuck were born to walk into an arena and throw the fuck down. He'll want to do it until the day he dies. Making money also helps.
 
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