From what I know Mad Dog has been thinking about retiring before being offered this fight.
Reza Madadi is in the exact same spot John Moraga was in during his most recent fight against Sergio Pettis.
- Both were talking about retirement before their recent fight.
- Both were NOT originally scheduled to fight on a card in their hometown, but took the fight on short notice since it's in their backyard. (I never like this scenario)
- Both hit a wall in terms of skills, and haven't improved much over the years, plus they're essentially veterans and won't improve much more (Moraga 7.5 year career, Madadi 10.5 year career).
- Both have cardio issues, imo, and are facing/faced a younger fighter on short notice in their recent fight (Moraga 10 years older than Pettis, Madadi 10 years older than Silva).
- Mentally, if a fighter knows they're gonna have one last fight, I don't want to place my money on them, especially if they're taking the fight on short notice, as they won't have the same fire as they did when they were hungry for wins and wanted to climb the rankings. IMO, they'll be more inclined to be lazy in the fight and even do something dumb like a quick tap if they get in a bad spot on the ground. There's that statistic that mentions the majority of people who try to have their retirement fight end up losing it -- most people don't usually retire on a win.
That being said, I still bet on Moraga even though he was fighting on short notice and was gonna retire if he got cut after this fight, as I thought he'd be a bad match-up for Pettis. Moraga gassed after 2 rounds and lost the 3rd. Pettis won 2-1.