Jimi Manuwa Announces Retirement After UFC Fight Night Stockholm

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.

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I came to London from Nigeria when i was 10 yrs old in 1990. I grew up in south London and had crazy teenage years filled with fights and life lessons. In 2006 i was 26 years old and i discovered the ufc while flicking through the sports channels late at night , it immediately captured me , the likes of rampage jackson, tito ortiz , randy couture , shogun were my favourite fighters and i became a fan instantly. i’d never set foot in any martial arts gym in my life and neither didn’t have any plans to. In 2008 i was 28 years old and i said to myself that i’m gonna fight for the ufc. i got off my sofa and started training muay thai and bjj , i had no martial arts experience but i was a tough cunt from south london. Martial arts immediately put more structure and discipline into my crazy life and helped me become a much better person than i was previously. I had my first pro fight after 2 weeks training and i won. within the first 2 years i was uk number 1, but the goal was to fight for the ufc. I won all my fights by ko and in 2012 i accepted a ufc contract after turning them down twice with an 11-0 record all knockouts. Ive had a great martial arts career and the last 4 fights have been tough losses to take not only for myself but for my family who is always first, ive given out a mostly knockouts and taken a few myself , that’s my fan loving style but it takes a toll on the body especially concussions which are not visible to the eye i’ve met a lot of great people along the way and travelled the world but it’s time to leave this chapter and on to the next one because there’s a life after fighting and i feel it’s my obligation to give more to combat sports which i love dearly outside of fighting. Thank you @danawhite and the @ufc for letting me showcase my skills and thank you to all my coaches and training partners who have helped and taught me along the way , much love to the fans and last but not least much love to my dear family who together we made this dream a reality. Jimi POSTERBOY Manuwa PB1 -- ... stay tuned --

A post shared by Jimi Manuwa (@pb1_) on Jun 4, 2019 at 4:50am PDT

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.