When Did You Want Your Favorite Athlete To Retire?
So I was watching the UFC fights on Saturday night, super excited to see Joe Lauzon step into the octagon for the twenty fourth time, and as always with J-Lau fights, I was really nervous. I’ve said it a bunch, but if you were unaware, Joe Lauzon is my favorite fighter of all time. I saw him TKO Kyle Bradley in 2008, in the spur of the moment said “That’s my guy!” and followed his career very closely ever since. I saw his personality develop over the years (he’s the most likable guy of all time), watched him pick up bonus after bonus, and when he lost to Jim Miller in 2012, he became my favorite fighter of all time. It’s still one of the greatest fights I have ever seen, and both men left it all in the cage. As far as moments go, those two warriors laying down, looking at the lights after they damn near killed each other is one of the best MMA has ever seen.
Joe lost to Evan Dunham in December of 2015, and really looked bad in the fight. One of his biggest strengths has always been his ability to fight any style. His stand up, wrestling, jiu jitsu, all of it, always great. His stand up seemed to disappear in that fight, and for the first time in his career, I contemplated whether or not his career was winding down. On July 9th (my birthday, shoutout me), he MAULED Diego Sanchez and I was relived. He’s got a few more left in the tank, I thought.
The next three fights were less encouraging. Lauzon lost to Jim Miller via split decision in a fight I believe he won, won against Marcin Held via split decision in a fight I know he lost, and on Saturday, lost to Stevie Ray via majority decision in a fight where there was no judge tomfoolery. In none of them did he look like his former self, though, and now it’s Monday, April 24th, and I think I want my favorite fighter of all time to retire.
It’s not my place to say when and where ANYONE should retire, but Joe’s not getting any younger (he’s 32), and he’s lost 4 of his 39 professional fights by TKO/KO. As a fan of his, I just don’t want to see that number escalate to five. Oh, and I know Joe’s pretty familiar with Barstool, so I would like to say in the chance this makes its way to him, I really mean no disrespect, and probably don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about. I’m just using Lauzon as my personal example, because I think the overall question is one every sports fan can relate to.
With as young as I am, most of my childhood favorites are either still active or just recently retired, but like, I didn’t want Derek Jeter to retire. I respected his decision to do so, and he obviously had one of the greatest sendoffs ever, but I wanted him to play until he literally couldn’t move. Same goes for Mariano Rivera. Until that fucker got 12 Tommy John Surgeries, I wanted him to be throwing cutters in the ninth. With MMA it’s a bit different, though. You don’t want to see your favorites getting their head caved in until their brain is pudding. Get in, make money, get out. As quickly as possible, really. So I’m hoping the UFC and Dana White give Joe one last fight in Boston for him to go out on a win, and he calls it quits after that, because he really, really, truly, deserves it.
Now I’m asking you guys…when did you want your favorite athlete to retire?