Mirsad Bektic Announces Retirement From MMA At Just 30 Years Old
According to reports, Mirsad Bektic has retired from mixed martial arts competition after 10 months out of the cage.
The Bosnian featherweight last stepped foot in the UFC octagon back in September 2020, where he suffered a third round submission loss to Damon Jackson. Prior to this, Mirsad had failed to overcome Josh Emmet and Dan Ige, a far cry from the form he had previously enjoyed.
After four consecutive wins at the start of his career, fans and pundits were quick to label Bektic as a ‘future world champion’. Bloodyelbow.com even rated Bektic as the #1 MMA prospect of 2014, with high praise coming from author of the list, Patrick Wyman. “He’s not the best wrestler on this list (Henry Cejudo), nor is he the best striker (Tyrone Spong) or grappler (Pedro Munhoz), but he seamlessly blends all of his different skills together to create a whole that’s worth much, much more than the sum of its parts.”
Up until his loss to Emmett in July 2019, Bektic found himself at number six on the UFC featherweight rankings after a career best victory over Ricardo Lamas, sadly this didn’t last long.
Despite recent setbacks, many had remained confident that Bektic would get himself back on track and begin climbing the rankings once again. However, recent reports from Triangle TV have put this vision into jeopardy.
The following is that very press release, directly from Triangle TV:
“30-year-old UFC fighter Mirsad Bektic has finished his MMA career. After 10 fights in the UFC (6-4) the best fighter from Bosnia and Herzegovina decided to retire from MMA sports,” Triangle TV reports. “Bektic was one of the greatest potentials of the featherweight category and at one point he was the 6th ranked fighter in the category. He has a series of 3 defeated behind him, and everyone was shocked by the decision to end his MMA career at 30-years-old.
“Mirsad will remain in the sport as a coach and nutritionist,” the report adds. “We wish him a lot of luck and success in the new chapter and it remains a pity that we will no longer see him in the octagon and that he has not shown his full potential.”
“Mirsad will remain in the sport as a coach and nutritionist,” the report adds. “We wish him a lot of luck and success in the new chapter and it remains a pity that we will no longer see him in the octagon and that he has not shown his full potential.”
View this post on Instagram
Although we are yet to receive word from Bektic as of yet, the UFC did remove him from their ranking pool last month, meaning this report is likely true.
Mirsad Bektic and Don Madge have been removed from the UFC rankings pool.
— Aaron Bronsteter (@aaronbronsteter) June 25, 2021
Regardless of Mirsad’s decision, we here at MyMMANews.com wish him all the best for the future, wherever that may be.
