Raphael Assunção has stated that he will be retiring from the sport of mixed martial arts.

The Brazilian fighter took off his gloves after suffering a third-round submission loss to Davey Grant on Saturday during the preliminary stage of the UFC Las Vegas event. He then threw his gloves on the canvas. Assunço announced his retirement from MMA in an interview with UFC color commentator Daniel Cormier after the bout.

 

“First of all, thank you God for giving me the strength up to this age,” said Assunção. “Thank you to my family for giving me 100 percent support. Thanks to the UFC, you guys calling the show. It is such a tough career. I was able to do this for 19 years as a professional, but I think my time has come now. I put a lot of effort into this training camp away from my family, and I think that’s it for me.”

Before joining the organization that is no longer in existence known as World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), Assunca had a record of 13-1 to show for the first few years of his professional career. The jiu-jitsu black belt competed in the featherweight division during his time with the organization and posted a record of 3-2 during his time there.

Following the merger of the WEC and the UFC, Assunção made his debut in the promotion based in Las Vegas at UFC 128. However, he was knocked out in the first round by Eric Koch. After that, he would move up to the bantamweight division and win seven matches in a row, including ones against renowned fighters like T.J. Dillashaw, Pedro Munhoz, and Bryan Caraway. His run of victories came to an end in the rematch with Dillashaw that took place at UFC 200. He was defeated by his old opponent through a unanimous decision. In three of his next four fights, Assunção got back to his winning ways by earning decisions against Aljamain Sterling, Marlon Moraes, and Rob Font.

On the other hand, the 40-year-old experienced a dry spell. After that, there were defeats at the hands of Moraes, Cory Sandhagen, Cody Garbrandt, and Ricky Simón, and Assunção intimated that he might retire. In spite of the fact that he beat Victory Henry by a unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 62 in October of this past year, Assunção has decided to retire as a result of this most recent defeat.