Fighters who were forced to retire because of injury (in their prime or not)

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Randy Fandy Fo Fanders said:
CM Punk. That devastating right cross he threw to Mickey Gall had so much power behind it that he tore his rotator cuff. And it was obviously the reason he lost that close match.

Premature ending to what could have been a fantastic GOAT level career.
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Everyone becomes a panic wrestler when they fight CM GOAT.
 
I wonder how i could have forget this one but Evangelist a Cyborg Santos retired after Michael Page gave him something like 4 head fractures
 
Struve briefly retired IIRC due to his health issues which included him collapsing at some point backstage I think. Although he was able to compete again I think it's safe to say they played a role in his performances, ability to train and his decision to retire again permanently.
 
I didn't know this one but james te huna retired from brain trauma after his UFC stint. Wow.

"For a month after the fight Te Huna suffered symptoms, including forgetfulness, that would lead to him repeating himself over and over again without realizing it, or forgetting what he was saying in the middle of a conversation.

It was a dark time and after the concussion cleared up the bleed on the brain and lesions left the 34-year-old Te Huna in little doubt that his career had come to an end."
 
TheChance said:
If i recall correctly he had shoulder problems
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Ok. My memory of it is off. My bad.
But yes. He did comeback. So Doesn’t belong on the list.

“on your application, under number of heart attacks, your scratched out four and put zero”

“I thought it said brain haemorrhages”
 
Travis Lutter retired because of neck issues

Former UFC fighter Travis Lutter’s career came to a premature end in 2010 following a fight with Rafael Natal in the short-lived Moosin promotion.

Perhaps Lutter shouldn’t have fought at all that night as in his last training session before the bout he had suffered a ‘stinger’ – a feeling like a jolt of electricity that runs down the arm as the result of nerves in the neck being compressed.

Despite it being the worst he’d experienced, Lutter still fought, and the next night he soon regretted it.

“As I got hit in that fight, I knew I was in trouble,” Lutter told Sherdog. “My neck was real bad.”

It was too late to turn back now though and late in the first round of the fight Lutter was dropped by punches from Natal, with follow-up ground and blows sealing a knockout stoppage victory.

It wasn’t a knockout that seemed particularly out of the ordinary at the time, but it had a lasting impact as Lutter told MMAjunkie several years later than afterwards his neck, “just never felt right.”

That would lead to Lutter having to undergo major surgery for a three-level fusion in his neck.

Worse still, doctor’s also discovered that he had previously suffered a fractured vertebrae earlier in his career that had previously gone undiagnosed.

Lutter waited two years in the hope that the damage would heal, but by that stage he was 39 and was still suffering neck pain, leading to his decision to hang up his gloves for good.
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Ben Askren...

And to anyone who thinks he was still in his prime when he returned to MMA and the UFC, they clearly don't know much about him.

Also Shane Carwin?
 
Dirge said:
Ben Askren...

And to anyone who thinks he was still in his prime when he returned to MMA and the UFC, they clearly don't know much about him.

Also Shane Carwin?
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would have been awesome if Shane Carwin got into MMA at a younger age. Would have been great to see him at his full potential.
 
Randy Fandy Fo Fanders said:
would have been awesome if Shane Carwin got into MMA at a younger age. Would have been great to see him at his full potential.
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Carwin retired because of a recurring neck injury. He was 36 when he retired but I expect if his neck wasn't so problematic he would have continued in MMA for a few years. He did start relatively late though (at age 30)
 
I'm going to add Frank Shamrock to the list as well.

He had multiple recurring injuries , neck, knees, bad shoulder etc. His last couple of years of competing when he came back in 2003, he was a shell of his former self.
 
Iron Monger said:
I wonder how i could have forget this one but Evangelist a Cyborg Santos retired after Michael Page gave him something like 4 head fractures
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This really is a pretty horrific injury, definitely felt bad for the guy, but to be fair Santos wasn’t in his fighting prime anymore... He was actually close to 40 when MVP caved in his dome, talk about corrective surgery. I’m actually surprised Overeem didn’t do this to anyone

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Iron Monger said:
Are there a lot of these ?

The best example I can think of is TJ Grant going to have a title shot at LW and then retiring because of concussion symtoms.

Bisping did not retire because if his eye he fought many fights like that.

Any other example outside Grant ?

Updated list:
- TJ Grant, concussion
- Dan Hardy, heart condition
- Chris Holdsworth, concussion
- Mark Kerr, mental health
- Yuki Nakai, eye loss
- Sean Sherk, shoulder/knee/hip injury
- Evangelista Cyborg Santos, fractures
- James Te Huna, brain trauma
- Travis Lutter, neck injury
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Good topic/question, but the VAST majority of names you listed were objectively far from their/any prime. Cyborg fighting MVP in his prime? That's a bridge-too-far.

But yeah, TJ Grant is the perennial contender in this debate. Hardy wants/could come back, so I'm not sure about him either.
I didn't know Te Huna was having brain problems. Sucks to here. Thanks Shogun/Obama -_-
 
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