Felice Herrig announced her retirement from MMA immediately following her submission loss to Karolina Kowalkiewicz at today’s UFC Vegas 56 event.
Herrig (14-10 MMA) returned to action for the first time in two years this afternoon for a rematch with Kowalkiewicz (13-7 MMA). The pair had previously met at UFC 223 in April of 2018, with the ‘Polish Princess’ emerging victorious on points.
Felice Herrig, 37, had entered the contest with hopes of snapping a three-fight losing skid. ‘Lil Bulldog’ had suffered a submission loss to Virna Jandiroba in her most previous effort at UFC 252.
Meanwhile, Karolina Kowalkiewicz also entered UFC Vegas 56 looking to right the ship. The former title challenger entered the bout on a five-fight losing skid.
Tonight’s featured prelim resulted in a second round submission victory for Kowalkiewicz, who forced Herrig to tapout with a rear-naked choke (see that here).
Both ladies were overcome with emotion following the result. Karolina celebrated her first win in over four years while Felice proceeded to set her gloves down in the middle of the Octagon.
Felice Herrig was interviewed moments later where she confirmed that she was retiring from mixed martial arts.
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/1533177589984120832
“You know, its been an honor being in the UFC for eight years and fighting for twenty. I just… The biggest thing for me is I really wanted to.. You know, I had two ACL surgeries and I really wanted to not go out like that. I wanted to prove to myself that I could overcome two knee surgeries and comeback and still fight at the highest level. And you know I felt better than ever in training. You know my mind felt great. I had so much good energy and positive and great people around me. Great coaches.”
Felice Herrig continued:
“But, I knew that if I wasn’t feeling it in the cage, that it was just going to be my last fight. Not in a bad way, I just feel like you know there’s something else for me. It’s time to close this chapter in my life. Which is really sad because I’ve committed the last twenty years to it. But, it’s just time to move on to something else.”
During her MMA career, Felice Herrig scored victories over the likes of Heather Jo Clark, Kailin Curran, Alexa Grasso, Justine Kish, Cortney Casey and Patricia Vidonic.