UFC veteran Felipe Arantes announces his retirement

Brazilian UFC fighter Felipe Arantes calls it a career and leaves a lengthy message to his fans on Instagram. 

Felipe Arantes has called it a career.

At the ripe age of 30, the UFC veteran announced his retirement on his Instagram profile this Tuesday, after suffering three straight losses under the UFC banner. The most recent one came at UFC Singapore last Saturday, when he was knocked out by Song Yadong.

In a lengthy message to his fans, Arantes went over the major points of his career and claimed he feels accomplished with everything he conquered in the sport. Furthermore, ‘Sertanejo’ also shared how he was able to return from major injuries and detailed some of the difficulties that come with being a professional MMA fighter, including another contusion, just before his fight in Singapore.

“No sob story here. I came to do my job and did it, but didn’t get the result I wanted,” Arantes wrote. “I still feel like a winner just for being here and for everything I went through. Things that people outside can’t see, only those who are by my side can. A win goes beyond having your arm raised. It’s built on the journey you took to get there. You win, you transform, you become stronger during that walk, not when you get there.

“I had two major injuries during my career. I suffered facial paralysis, and a motorcycle crash that left me with torn ligaments and broken bones. They told me not to fight again, but God honored me and I came back. Before my last fight, I had an MCL injury and one femur injury, too, one week shy of fight night. Once again, doctors warned me about the possibility of not fighting, but I didn’t want to give up and I fought.

“Honestly? I feel 100% accomplished with my career and wouldn’t have it any other way. My will to fight is not the same nowadays, so I decided to stop. I always said I don’t need to do this for money, because through fighting, I was able to build things that grant me a nice life. I’m grateful for being able to hang up my gloves at 30 and for knowing that, one way or another, my name will be in the history of the UFC.”

Felipe Arantes (18-10-1-2 NC) retires from MMA with a UFC record of 5-6-1. During that time, he defeated the likes of Antonio Carvalho, Godofredo Pepey, Maximo Blanco, Yves Jabouin and Jerrod Sanders. His win over Sanders marked the final one of his career, submitting his opponent by armbar in July 2016. Other than the Yadong loss, Josh Emmett and Erik Perez also bested the Brazilian in his last outings.