Charles Byrd says UFC 250 was the final fight of his career.
Byrd (10-7 MMA, 1-3 UFC), an 11-year veteran, announced that he’s retiring after his second-round TKO loss to Maki Pitolo on Saturday night.
At 36, Byrd dropped his third consecutive bout when he lost to Pitolo. He took to social media to announce that he’s hanging up his gloves (via Facebook):
Ive never been afraid to fail or try. Never thought I’d say this at this moment but I’m ok and accepting that sometimes things in life dont go as expected. Mentally and physically prepared for this bout. But the outcome didn’t go my way. Im ready to explore that next chapter and path God has for me. I appreciate the love and support from everyone friends and family through this journey I call my fight career. Achieved many great things for myself and developed alot of memories. But time waits for no man. So with that said im officially done with fighting.🙏🏾🙏🏾
Byrd was one of the first fighters to make it to the UFC roster from the now-prominent Fortis MMA team in Dallas.
After eight years, he broke into the UFC with two wins on the inaugural season of Dana White’s Contender Series. He proceeded to win his official UFC debut with a submission of John Phillips in March 2018 at UFC Fight Night 127.
Byrd would not pick up another octagon victory after that, though, suffering knockout losses to Pitolo, Edmen Shahbazyan and Darren Stewart.
