# Will An MMA Fighter Ever Retire Undefeated?



## Dtwizzy2k5 (Jul 7, 2008)

An interesting point of note in combat sports is how difficult it is to remain unbeaten throughout one's entire career. In the long, illustrious history of boxing, for instance, there has only been one HW champion to retire unbeaten and that was Rocky Marciano. Considering that boxing has been around for over a century, I'd say it's pretty astonishing that there havent been more boxers retire undefeated. 

Enough about boxing, though; this thread is aimed at MMA (and, more specifically, the UFC). The reasons why it is so hard for a fighter to retire undefeated include:

1. Fighters often tally losses early in their careers when they have yet to hit their true prime (GSP, A.Silva)

2. Fighters often rack up losses at the end of their careers when they are old and over the hill (Chuck Liddell). 

3. In a sport like MMA, all it takes is one slip up or one lucky punch to knock you out and hand you a loss. 

Sure we have seen guys like Fedor with impressive ALMOST unbeaten resumes, but to my knowledge there has never been an MMA fighter to retire with an undefeated pro record in the entire short history of the sport. 

So, do you guys think that we will ever see somebody in the UFC retire as an undefeated fighter and, presumably, the champion of his weight class? And if so, who on the current roster do you think it will be?

As of now there aren't too many choices but one guy who stands out to me is Cain Velasquez. If he can maintain his unbeaten mark against JDS, there really isnt anybody left in the UFC HW division to challenge him. Maybe if the UFC signed Reem/Fedor then Cain would be tested, or maybe a future prospect can. But for now i dont see it.

Also some names to throw out there as undefeated are Phil Davis, Jon Jones (as far as im concerned), Ryan Bader, Stun Gun, Cain Velasquez, and im sure there are others but that's all i can think of.


----------



## NikosCC (May 16, 2007)

No never.. Because this sport is soo different then boxing anything can happen on any giving day and no one is unbeatable.


----------



## HexRei (Apr 27, 2007)

Plenty of fighters have retired undefeated I'm sure, after all there must be fighters who fought only a time or three and then retired, even on the pro circuit. The question is how many will retire after facing the best of their time and weight and remain undefeated- and I imagine that will be a very unlikely occurrence, since such a fighter will probably continue to fight until he is unable to do so and win regularly, or be accused of ducking should he retire before he is perceived to be "over the hill".


----------



## _RIVAL_ (Mar 7, 2008)

The state of the judging system is something that is definatly working against that..


----------



## JoshKnows46 (Jun 18, 2007)

jon jones will never lose to anyone on the current lhw roster. his wrestling is too good. hes a far more explosive and powerful version of gsp, not to mention he isnt close to his prime.

i dont count the dq


----------



## Indestructibl3 (Apr 2, 2009)

Well yes, there has been eg, Rickson Gracie went 11-0. And I do believe more will, however I believe you mean fighters in the upper echelon of UFC fighters constantly fighting top competition. In that case, probably not.


----------



## HexRei (Apr 27, 2007)

yeah, rickson went 11-0.  somewheeeeerrrreeee, overrrrrrrr the rainbowwwwww....


----------



## Sweetbrag (Jan 15, 2011)

Eventually, compared to boxing, this sport is just a baby. I can't imagine how good fighters will be in the future.


----------



## John8204 (May 13, 2010)

I'm sure the next Cristiane Santos will do it. In the men's division maybe if a dominant BW comes along.


----------



## limba (Jul 21, 2009)

Herschel Walker! 



HexRei said:


> Plenty of fighters have retired undefeated I'm sure, after all there must be fighters who fought only a time or three and then retired, even on the pro circuit. *The question is how many will retire after facing the best of their time and weight and remain undefeated*- and I imagine that will be a very unlikely occurrence, since such a fighter will probably continue to fight until he is unable to do so and win regularly, or be accused of ducking should he retire before he is perceived to be "over the hill".


Quoted for truth!
Great post!


----------



## Soojooko (Jun 4, 2009)

Question is, whats more impressive? Going 12-0 or 30-3? For example, by the time GSP is done, he may very well have a win streak longer than many fighters entire careers.

I would slightly tweak the question: Will any fighter go 20 fights unbeaten in modern MMA? Retiring with 12-0 is not so impressive.


----------



## Abrissbirne (Jul 4, 2010)

If some fighter would know when its over, they could do that. But if they are like 38 or sth and think they are in their prime than....


----------



## pipe (Jun 15, 2008)

Sure they will but I think the real top class fighters will never retire undefeated and will go on past their prime, there is just to much money in it to retire.

One off the top of my head who was quite good is Phillip Miller, he fough in the UFC and retired at 16-0-0. I think hes a cop now(?)


----------



## edlavis88 (Jul 12, 2009)

Never say never but can't see it happening in the next 10 years, not until guys start training in wrestling, BJJ and a striking discipline from a very young age will anyone have a shot at it.


----------



## Liddellianenko (Oct 8, 2006)

MMA? Dozens, all you have to do is face lesser competition your whole career and retire. 

UFC? Unlikely, unless you retire before every reaching the belt or defending it a few times. 

I don't think any UFC level fighter will ever retire undefeated, unless they get injured in their prime and retire before the next badass comes along. The competition level is just too high.


----------



## Sambo de Amigo (Sep 24, 2010)

Liddellianenko said:


> MMA? Dozens, all you have to do is face lesser competition your whole career and retire.
> 
> UFC? Unlikely, unless you retire before every reaching the belt or defending it a few times.
> 
> I don't think any UFC level fighter will ever retire undefeated, unless they get injured in their prime and retire before the next badass comes along. The competition level is just too high.


In all honesty i think thats nonsense GSP in theory could have if it was not for a fight he wasnt ready for at his age and a lottery punch.

When this current crop of guys is gone the competition in the UFC may be less or that super guy with BJJ Takedowns and Striking comes along. 

Id actually says its very likley that a guy will retire undefeated in the UFC after facing all the top guys.


----------



## Dtwizzy2k5 (Jul 7, 2008)

What of Cain Velasquez? I personally don't see him losing in the UFC...


----------



## Ape City (May 27, 2007)

NikosCC said:


> No never.. Because this sport is soo different then boxing anything can happen on any giving day and no one is unbeatable.


What do the differences in MMA and boxing have to do with going undefeated?

No one in boxing is unbeatable and anything can happen on any given day (ie punchers chance) in both boxing and mma...


----------



## dave-stjohn (Nov 10, 2009)

Dtwizzy2k5 said:


> What of Cain Velasquez? I personally don't see him losing in the UFC...


That's been said about so many fighters that it is almost a moot point, everybody is beatable look at Fedor. As far as the boxing comparison, you have to remember that there was a lot of fight fixing going on back in the day, something you don't hear of in mma.


----------



## strikersrevenge (Nov 20, 2010)

No. Fedor is the closest anyone will ever come to that. 50 years from now it may be a different story but not in any of our lifetimes.


----------



## Leed (Jan 3, 2010)

I am...


----------



## vilify (Mar 23, 2010)

Unless you're fighting bums, I doubt it.


----------



## Rauno (Nov 20, 2009)

vilify said:


> Unless you're fighting bums, I doubt it.


I agree.


----------



## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

Anyone with a career longer than 10 fights is bound to lose sometime. Most of the guys with really long careers start losing a lot when their physical abilities begin to fade. Bas Rutten is the exception.


----------



## Dtwizzy2k5 (Jul 7, 2008)

strikersrevenge said:


> No. Fedor is the closest anyone will ever come to that. 50 years from now it may be a different story but not in any of our lifetimes.


LOL you dont think our lifetimes will extend til 50 years from now??? :laugh:


----------



## Hammerlock2.0 (Jun 17, 2009)

Dtwizzy2k5 said:


> LOL you dont think our lifetimes will extend til 50 years from now??? :laugh:


Unless there's somebody in this forum who doesn't drink alcohol, doesn't ever do drugs, keeps his mind and body fit all the time, but not too much because it's not healthy, doesn't have any genetic diseases in his family tree and is between 10 and 15 years old I think that's a pretty realistic statement.


----------



## sNuFf_rEaLiTy (Feb 2, 2009)

i don't think so. every fight is just too high of a risk.


----------



## chosenFEW (Oct 25, 2009)

NikosCC said:


> No never.. Because this sport is soo different then boxing anything can happen on any giving day and no one is unbeatable.



yup, its also a lot harder to duck someone in MMA.... in boxing look at how long mayweather has ran from pacquiao.... that fight will probably never happen


----------



## EliteUndisputed (Nov 26, 2010)

JoshKnows46 said:


> jon jones will never lose to anyone on the current lhw roster. his wrestling is too good. hes a far more explosive and powerful version of gsp, not to mention he isnt close to his prime.
> 
> i dont count the dq


He broke the rules, he lost, it doesn't matter if you count it because your opinion isn't valid. His record states 11-1, therefore he isn't undefeated, and did lose to Matt Hamill.

And when he has to fight Shogun, Shogun will sub him easily more than likely.

And it might happen one day, Rickson went 11-0, but it's completely possible, despite it being a different sport, Mayweather is undefeated in Boxing, so I could see someone matching that feat in MMA.


----------



## Fine Wine (Aug 30, 2010)

HexRei said:


> yeah, rickson went 11-0.  somewheeeeerrrreeee, overrrrrrrr the rainbowwwwww....


LOL :thumb02:


----------



## Rockstar189 (Dec 14, 2006)

I believe whatever was left of this notion went out the window after Fedor was handed his first legitimate loss. If you constantly fight top tier fighters the chances are huge that one of them will have your number. Every fighter has holes. My 2 cents


----------



## punchbag (Mar 1, 2010)

HexRei said:


> yeah, rickson went 11-0.  somewheeeeerrrreeee, overrrrrrrr the rainbowwwwww....


I respect Rickson a lot but what good competition did he have at the time for his 11-0 record, he never fought the top fighters at the time in mma e.g Bas Rutten, Sakuraba etc


----------

