Tim Kennedy and Urijah Faber may be the most high-profile MMA retirees of late, but they have been joined by two comparatively young UFC fighters this week.
Joining the likes of Ricardo Abreu and Aisling Daly in calling it quits this month is James Moontasri and Joey Gomez.
Both men announced their retirements on Facebook.
Welterweight Moontasri (9-5), 28, leaves the sport having gone 2-4 in the UFC, though he isn’t leaving the martial arts world entirely, according to his Facebook post:
A three-fight veteran of RFA prior to his UFC run, Moontasri holds notable wins over Jordan Rinaldi, Cody Pfister and Anton Zafir, the latter of whom he defeated via spinning back fist TKO in what was his Welterweight debut. Unfortunately, he ends his career off the back of two consecutive unanimous decision losses, to Alex Oliveira and Alex Morono.
Joey Gomez was one of 35 fighters to be released by the UFC this week, though it has been revealed that the New Hampshire-based Bantamweight retired back in December, though this was never widely reported.
This was confirmed by James Lynch on Twitter:
@TheZaneSimon @BloodyElbow not that it matters but Joey Gomez annouced his retirement in December.
— James Lynch (@LynchOnSports) February 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/LynchOnSports/status/830240359477342212
The 30-year-old debuted in the UFC last January as a late notice replacement against Rob Font but came up short, losing via second round TKO. This defeat was followed up by a unanimous decision loss to Jose Alberto Quinonez at UFC Fight Night 94 and the Team Quest-trained fighter retires with a professional record of 6-2.
