UFC fighters who retired in 2020

One thing that the UFC organization gets every year is the retirement of a group of its fighters and 2020 is not an exception.

Undoubtedly no warrior is excepted to have a lifespan career, as every year a number of fighters make their mind to hang up their gloves.

While some of them hang up way too long leaving the fans begging for their retirement, others shock the whole world by hanging up the gloves too early at the prime heyday of their career. You can find out a few, on the

.

While the year 2020 was the 28th year in the history of UFC, some truly memorable moments were created in this year just consider the encounter between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk as the

UFC 2020 fight of the year

which was that much spectacular to be included among the 

, despite all challenges of the pandemic, but much to your consternation, several legends, unfortunately, stepped away from the octagon too.

In case you are wondering, some warriors voluntarily choose to become retired, while others are forced to be retired for example by sustaining crippling injuries or by being released from their contracts as then they would be dubbed as UFC fighters released 2020.

But there is always the possibility of having some of them back making one last run at the belt or to just showcase that they still got what it takes to become retired with the best in the game.

Maybe the fighters enlisted here would manage to came back and then hang up their gloves in the upcoming years or even this year so as to be included among

UFC fighters retired 2021

as well.

A complete list of UFC fighters who retired in 2020

Here we would feature a comprehensive list of the UFC fighters who retired in 2020.

Charles Byrd

The American retired UFC fighter had become professional since 2009 and went on fighting until 2020 so as to become an 11-year veteran fighter with a career record of 10 wins and 7 losses in MMA as well as 1 win and 3 losses in UFC, earning a spot in our list of UFC fighters who retired in 2020.

While he was a contest on the inaugural season of Dana White’s Contender Series, his UFC debut fight occurred on March 17, 2018, against John Phillips at UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov, where he gained mastery via submission with a rear-naked choke in the first round.

Then he fought against Darren Stewart at UFC 228 on September 8, 2018, and conceded the match via technical knockout in the second round.

Likewise in his bout against Edmen Shahbazyan taking place on March 2, 2019, at UFC 235, he was beaten via technical knockout in the first round.

Following a 15-month layoff, he came back to cope with Maki Pitolo at UFC 250 on June 6, 2020, and again was defeated via technical knockout in the second round.

As a result, as he underwent knockout losses to Pitolo, Edmen Shahbazyan and Darren Stewart, it seemed that would not pick up another octagon victory and after being beaten by Maki Pitolo, he took to social media to announce his retirement.

Peter Sobotta

With a career record of (17-7-1 MMA, 4-6 UFC), the retired Polish-born German professional MMA fighter, competed in the Welterweight division while he became a professional warrior in 2004, and started his UFC career back in 2009.

Precisely as saying, his promotional UFC debut took place on June 13, 2009, at UFC 99 against Paul Taylor in which he was beaten in the third round via unanimous decision.

In his last fight, while he coped with Alex Oliveira on July 26, 2020, at UFC on ESPN 14 in Abu Dhabi, he conceded the bout via unanimous decision, lost all three rounds on all three scorecards as he registered back-to-back defeats for the first time since the three-fight skid marking the inauspicious start of his UFC career.

Although it was only his third defeat in a decade, he was outclassed on the feet and just after the start of the fight he broke his right arm probably as a result of blocking Oliveira’s body kicks.

Taking how he was beaten in the fight into account, along with an assessment of his performance in that defeat, he ended up making the decision of walking away from his UFC career so as to be included among the

UFC fighters who retired in 2020.

Ricardo Lamas 

The retired American MMA warrior fought in the Featherweight of UFC with an illustrious career record of

20-8 MMA and 11-6 UFC, which had been started from 2008 until 2020, so he would not be excluded from the list of UFC fighters who retired in 2020.

His debut UFC fight took place on June 26, 2011, at UFC on Versus 4 where he gained victory via TKO in the first round. In his glorious career, he overcame giants like Cub Swanson, Diego Sanchez and Charles Oliveira, and has fought against the who’s-who of the sport.

In his final fight against promotional newcomer Bill Algeo which eventually took place on August 29, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 175, he gained mastery via unanimous decision and earned the Fight of the Night award as well.

Then he officially confirmed his decision to hang up his gloves. He also suggested someone who had a special place in his affections prompted that choice, and it was apparently his lost borther who had accompanied him in the spirit in his fights.

But even before coping with Algeo, when he was defeated by Calvin Kattar via knockout, he had sustained a broken jaw. Hence, He fought against Algeo while he already contemplated retirement, anyway that retirement landed him a place among

UFC fighters who retired in 2020

.

Antônio Rogério Nogueira

Antônio Rogério Nogueira, also recognized with the nickname of Lil Nog or Minotouro, is a retired Brazilian MMA fighter who competed for UFC, PRIDE and more in a span of two decades from 2000 until 2020.

But don't confuse him with his twin brother, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, the "Minotauro" (lit. Minotaur), who is also an MMA fighter who became retired earlier than Rogério, due to a problem with his knee, and ribs.

You can also find more about Rodrigo on the

although through images they are barely distinguishable.

Back to Nogueira, with a career record of 23 wins and 10 losses, he succeeded to make his mark on the sport, although he failed to earn major accomplishments like a title in a premier organization.

In his debut UFC fight against Luiz Cané, at UFC 106, he managed to finish the fight with his punches at 1:56 of the first round.

But in his last fight which was the trilogy with Maurício Rua and occurred on July 26, 2020, at UFC on ESPN 14, he conceded the fight via split decision.

Following that defeat, he became retired from fighting professionally probably because of his consecutive defeats so as to be added to our list of UFC fighters who retired in 2020.

Siyar Bahadurzada

The retired Dutch MMA fighter contested in the Welterweight category of the UFC as he also fought for promotions like World Victory Road, Shooto, and RINGS, earning the Shooto Middleweight Championship in his career that began from 2001.

He debuted in UFC on 14 April 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV 2 and fought against Paulo Thiago, grabbing triumph by KO at 42 seconds of the first round, as it saw him achieve the Knockout of the Night award and become the first man to knock out Thiago.

With a career record of 24 wins and 8 losses, it is worth mentioning how he performed in his last UFC fights so as to perhaps find out the reason why he has been considered as one of the

UFC fighters who retired in 2020

.

On 21 April 2018, he coped with Luan Chagas at UFC Fight Night 128, achieving victory via knockout in the second round while he earned the Performance of the Night bonus as well.

Then he fought against Curtis Millender on 29 December 2018 at UFC 232 and conceded the match via unanimous decision. Finally, he confronted Ismail Naurdiev on 28 September 2019 at UFC on ESPN+ 18, while he was defeated via unanimous decision again.

Then in June 2020, he announced that he was hanging up his gloves taking a spot among UFC fighters who retired in 2020. At the same time, it was already announced that he has been named to the post of the new head coach of Singapore-based martial arts team Evolve MMA.

Steven Ray

The Scottish mixed martial artist formerly fought for the UFC while he spent a span of his career competing for BAMMA and Cage Warriors as he managed to be their Lightweight Champion.

With a career record of 23 wins and 9 losses, he began competing in 2010 and went on fighting until 2020, being included on the list of

UFC fighters released 2020

, yet it seems that he came out of retirement and is set to compete in a fight on 2020 in the Lightweight division of the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Still, he is considered to be among UFC fighters who retired in 2020, since he hang up his gloves in the UFC promotion. In his promotional debut UFC fight, he confronted Marcin Bandel on 11 April 2015 at UFC Fight Night 64 and succeeded to win the one-sided fight via TKO in round two.

Likewise in his final UFC fight, he coped with Michael Johnson at UFC on ESPN+ 20 on 26 October 2019 and earned the victory via majority decision.

He was also expected to compete in another bout in 2020, but it was cancelled owing to the pandemic. Hence, on 21 September 2020 Ray revealed his decision to hang up his gloves, in the cope of ongoing knee injuries.

Yet, he later confirmed that his retirement was the result of being cut by UFC on the grounds of turning down a fight in the cope of visa issues and prior legal problems, while he announced that the UFC was already aware of it.

Henry Cejudo

As an American retired Flyweight and Bantamweight Champion of UFC, he is honoured to be the fourth UFC fighter who hold titles in two various weight categories at the same time.

Not to mention that even more amazingly, he is the second fighter who also defended titles in two various categories and the only one who have won an Olympic gold medal besides his UFC title.

With an illustrious career record of 16-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC, he is widely considered to be among the Best MMA fighters of all Time, as he won 3 Performance of the Night awards in a career that started from 2013 but did not last beyond 2020.

That is to say, when he was at the prime heyday of his career, right after his successful bantamweight title defence, he announced his retirement as it was a triumph over Dominick Cruz earned by TKO in the second round of a fight that took place on May 9, 2020, at UFC 249.

It was a great shock for many people, because just when he became honoured to be the first man to stop Dominick Cruz with strikes, he revealed his intention of hanging up his gloves, thereby here lies the speculation of temporary retirement.

Anyway, he is now considered to be among one of the UFC fighters who retired in 2020 and his retirement might be due to his shoulder surgery.

Although his last fight is not considered to be one of the Best UFC fights 2020, Cejudo had put on show one of the closest fights back in 2018 when he toppled Demetrious Johnson via split decision which is deemed to be the biggest highlight of his UFC career.

Daniel Cormier

The American retired Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight Champion of UFC, not only is honoured to be the second fighter in UFC history to be holder of titles in two divisions at the same time but also he is amazingly the first warrior to defend titles in two categories.

Being considered as one of

, he defended his Heavyweight title once and his Light Heavyweight title, three times, earning two Fight of the Night and three Performance of the Night awards in his rich legacy.

But with a career record of 22 wins, 3 losses and one no contest, he announced his retirement three weeks after his last fight against Miocic which occurred on August 15 2020, at UFC 252, yet there were already presentiments of his retirement even before the last fight with his turning 40 years old.

His last fight which was a trilogy fight against Miocic is marked as one of the

Best UFC fights 2020

in which Stipe Miocic retained his heavyweight title and won the fight by unanimous decision.

It was a jaw-dropping close back-and-forth five-round battle that took long 25 minutes while it saw Cormier sustain a torn cornea after receiving an eye poke by Miocic toward the end of the third round.

This is while Cormier dubbed his opponent to be deserved of this victory as he believed the judges made the right call and so he hanged up his gloves with a huge amount of honour and satisfaction.

Anderson Silva

The Brazilian-American former MMA fighter is a retired UFC Middleweight Champion who holds one of the Best UFC Records of All Time which is the longest title reign in UFC history at 2,457 days from 2006 to 2013 as he earned 16 successive triumphs in that period.

Being widely dubbed as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time, he started his MMA career back in 1997 and stepped away from it in 2020 so as to return to his boxing profession.

With a career record of 34 wins and 11 losses, he won 26 of his 46 bouts by knockout or submission. After that he was defeated consecutively in his last fights, he made up his mind to hang up his gloves.

Precisely as saying, while fought against Uriah Hall on 31 October 2020 at UFC Fight Night: Hall vs. Silva, he conceded the fight via technical knockout in the fourth round and on his Instagram account, he unofficially announced that he wanted to bring his MMA career into a halt.

Later on 19 November 2020, the UFC confirmed that they had let Silva withdraw from his UFC contract, allowing him to negotiate with other promotions, while he is considered to be among UFC fighters released 2020.

But the reason behind his retirement is that he deemed MMA training to be too an arduous profession for him and he preferred not to be buttered anymore in pursuit of enjoying the rest of his life.

Khabib Nurmagomedov

The Russian retired MMA fighter, was the longest-reigning UFC Lightweight Champion as he held the title from April 2018 to March 2021.

While he started his MMA career back in 2008, he stepped away from fighting professionally in 2020 at the prime heyday of his career with a record of 29 victories without a single defeat being considered as one of the UFC fighters who retired in 2020 who amazingly remained unbeaten in his glorious career, while he has already grabbed a spot on Top 10 Undefeated UFC fighters of All Time.

In his final match that took place on 24 October 2020 in the main event at UFC 254, he coped with Gaethje while the fight might be roughly deemed to be among the Best UFC fights 2020 and it was announced to be 2020 UFC Honors Submission of the Year.

To be specific, he succeeded to gain mastery via technical submission with a triangle choke in round two, so as to defend and re-unify his UFC Lightweight Championship earning the Performance of the Night award for it as well.

Then he paid a tribute to his coach and father, Abdulmanap, who had passed away recently, and as result, in the middle of the octagon, Khabib wept and left his gloves at the centre as he announced that it was his last fight in the UFC.

In his post-fight interview, he elaborated more as this retirement was due to a promise he had made with his mother to not continue his MMA career without his father unless this last fight.

Because it would be very hard for him to go on fighting without the guidance and support of his father who was a true legend for him as he, unfortunately, died on July 3, 2020, in the cope of complications caused by coronavirus infection.

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