The UFC career of Brian Kelleher peaked when he brutally eliminated a rising star five years ago.
The 40-Fight veteran announced his pension from MMA on Wednesday in a statement of social media.
“I don't know what the next step is, but it seems that there has been an end,” Kelleher tweeted. “What a trip. Thank you all who supported me. Love you. TREE.”
Renan Barao is the biggest name on Brian Kelleher's record, but his most memorable victory came in 2020.
Photo by Cooper Neill/Zuffa LLC via Getty images
Brain Kelleher destroyed the perfect record of Hunter Azure
After having gone 4-3 in the Octagon near Bantamweight, Kelleher went to featherweight in May 2020.
The 38-year-old was matched with 8-0 prospect Hunter Azure, which looked like the next big thing.
After he had impressed the Contender Series, Azure beat an Ultimate Fighter winner in his UFC debut.
The wrestler postponed Brad Katona over three rounds to make a great first impression in September 2019.
The next time, Azure gave a good report of himself and earned a $ 50,000 fight from the night bonus.
However, that money will only have filled the blow of what an absolutely devastating defeat was.
Kelleher made Azure out with a monstrous left -hand shot in the second round of their fight in Florida.
'Boom' has fulfilled its nickname by dropping two large follow -up bombs to make his opponent cold and win a big upset.
What has Brian Kelleher been done lately?
Kelleher went 3-2 in his next five fights before he started the losing series that ended his career.
A unanimous decision victory over Kevin Croom in January 2022 was the last time he tasted UFC victory.
Since then, Kelleher has lost against Umar Nurmagomedov, Cody Garbrandt, Mario Bautista and Cody Gibson.
In October it was reported that the American and 11 other hunters were cut by the MMA leader.
As recently as two weeks ago, De Kelleher still placed videos training on the heavy bag and threw combinations – so fans were somewhat shocked to hear that he called it a career.
Thank you for the memories, Brian! Everyone at Bloody Elbow wishes you a happy and healthy pension.
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