UFC Light-heavyweight Cody Donovan Announces Retirement

by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

www.codydonovan.com

UFC Light-heavyweight Cody Donovan has today announced his retirement from MMA. A 13 fight veteran which including 4 fights under the UFC banner, Donovan, released the following statement via his official website:

After almost 12 years of fighting…pursuing and living my dream, I am officially announcing my retirement from professional MMA. After much thought and discussion with my coaches and wife, we decided it is time to close this chapter of my life. I love fighting and competing but my body is no longer allowing me to do so. Injury after injury, surgery after surgery, I try to come back better, faster, stronger but there comes a time when your body says, “Alright, no more.” As I’ve said in many interviews, God has a much greater plan for me than any other plan I could ever come up with for myself. I also have wisely began working on thinking and strategizing my post career planning with the support of everyone in my life. I am blessed to have embarked on this new adventure with everyone behind me.

I would like to thank my family, coaches, teammates, training partners, management, friends, and fans for the support over the years. They have given me so much and now it’s time for me to return the favor. How many people wake up every day and get to do what they love? I was one of those lucky ones! I intend to stay involved in the sport that I love by coaching, teaching, and helping teammates continue on their journeys towards achieving their dreams in the sport.

Endings are sad, beginnings are scary…but it’s the middle that counts. I embrace and welcome this chapter of my life and will work hard and strive for excellence in everything that I will do!

33 year old Donovan, a black belt in BJJ made his UFC debut in 2012 defeating Nick Penner at UFC on FX 6 - Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson. The victory over Penner would be end up being the only victory in his UFC career, as he went on you loss to Ovince St. Preux, Gian Villante, and most recently Nikita Krylov at UFC Fight Night Dublin. All of those losses came by TKO.

Donovan retires from MMA with an 8-5 overall record with 4 wins by KO / TKO and 3 by submissions.

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