31-year-old Alan Belcher hasn’t fought since April of 2013, and on Friday he said he won’t be coming back to the cage.
“I’m done fighting. I’m finished. I’ll never, ever fight again. This is my official retirement,” Belcher said during a session on Periscope (transcribed by MMAFighting.com). “I really feel like talking to instructors and gym owners, business owners is my calling now. That’s what I really want to do…I really believe that I could go down that road and fight again, but this is more important to me. I like teaching martial arts. I want to continue teaching students all over the world in my online businesses…
“So this is my official retirement. That’s it. I’m not really going to shed a tear or anything. I’m done. I don’t care. I don’t want to get hit anymore.”
Belcher went 9-6 in 15 fights from 2006-2013, but injuries piled up for him in the last several years of that run. That included a really scary detached retina in 2010 that threatened his career, which led to further concern in what turned out to be his final bout against Michael Bisping, as that ended on an eye poke late in the third round.
Penick’s Analysis: It’s not entirely surprising given there seemed to be no plans of him returning this past year. Thankfully he’s found another calling that he’s finding fulfilling, but you can’t help but look back and wonder what might have been for him. He had some great UFC performances, including an excellent KO over Rousimar Palhares in 2012, and it’s just unfortunate that injuries kind of cut him down a bit.
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