Over a decade removed from his professional debut, Jimi Manuwa has announced his retirement from Mixed Martial Arts.
This past weekend at UFC Fight Night Stockholm, Manuwa was knocked out by Aleksandar Rakic, falling to a fourth straight defeat. At 39 years of age, Manuwa will now "leave this chapter" behind, moving on and officially completing his journey inside the cage. 'Poster Boy' made the announcement in a lengthy Instagram post that detailed his initial motivation for entering the sport to begin with. Beginning his career at 28 years old, Manuwa was late to MMA but carved out a career to be proud of nonetheless.
Prior to these most recent struggles, Manuwa was on a two fight win streak of his own, memorably knocking out Ovince St Preux and Corey Anderson respectively. At that time, Manuwa had won six of his eight octagon showings, only losing to revered contenders Anthony Johnson and Alexander Gustafsson.
While never able to secure a UFC Light Heavyweight title shot, Manuwa leaves fans with memories of some quite remarkable battles. Win or lose, Manuwa rarely failed to entertain, fighting with courage and aggression throughout. He leaves the sport with a 17-6 record that certainly featured some highlight reel moments along the way.
He's also now the third fighter to retire after UFC Fight Night Stockholm, following Alexander Gustafsson and Nick Hein.