{"id":276853,"date":"2018-05-21T11:01:36","date_gmt":"2018-05-21T18:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=276853"},"modified":"2018-05-21T11:06:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-21T18:06:26","slug":"former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After 15 years as a professional fighter, Ian McCall has announced his retirement from MMA. McCall made this announcement on Monday&#8217;s edition of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/mma-hour\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The MMA Hour<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"mZaW1w\">\u201cI\u2019m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,\u201d McCall said (transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mmafighting.com\/2018\/5\/21\/17376744\/ian-mccall-announces-retirement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">MMA Fighting<\/a>). \u201cI\u2019m done. This sport has taken so much from me \u2014 I shouldn\u2019t say it\u2019s taken, I\u2019ve given this sport so much. And sure, I was the best in the world years ago and sure, people keep bringing up my \u2018Al Bundy\u2019 moment about beating Demetrious [Johnson], \u2018Oh, you\u2019re the guy, blah blah blah.\u2019<\/p>\n<p id=\"TE1ZsG\">\u201cI\u2019ve had a good run, it\u2019s been fun, but at the same time, it\u2019s over,&#8221; McCall added. &#8220;After enough shenanigans that I\u2019ve been through, I think physically I could still do it. Physically I go in the gym, I train hard. I beat people up, I have a good time, I love doing it, but with my luck and I hate to be the guy that\u2019s like, \u2018It always happens to me, the bad things always happen to me,\u2019 well they kind of do in this sport. &#8230; I\u2019m not gaining ground, I\u2019m not getting closer to being the best in the world. The steps are getting farther and farther away and I\u2019m not in this to be anything but the best in the world. And if I cannot compete at that level of the best in the world, then it\u2019s just not worth it for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>McCall, who once stood out as the best flyweight in the world, was instrumental in the establishment of the division in the UFC.<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of his illustrious career, McCall battled names like Demetrious Johnson, Dominick Cruz, Joseph Benavidez, John Lineker and Brad Pickett. McCall&#8217;s last two bouts occurred in the Rizin ring, where he first experienced a bizarre, injury-induced loss to Manel Kape, and most recently succumbed to punches from Kyoji Horiguchi in just 9 seconds.<\/p>\n<p>On one of Ian McCall\u2019s hands, there is a tattoo that reads \u201cthese violent delights have violent ends.\u201d It\u2019s a Shakespeare quote. As he ends his career on the heels of his blitzkrieg loss to Horiguchi, that tattoo seems quite fitting\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"><span class=\"s1\"><i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a><i>\u00a0on 5\/21\/2018. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After 15 years as a professional fighter, Ian McCall has announced his retirement from MMA. McCall made this announcement on Monday&#8217;s edition of The MMA Hour. \u201cI\u2019m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,\u201d McCall said (transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting). \u201cI\u2019m done. This sport [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":275809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10315],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v19.7 (Yoast SEO v19.14) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"After 15 years as a professional fighter, Ian McCall has announced his retirement from MMA. McCall made this announcement on Monday&#8217;s edition of The MMA Hour. \u201cI\u2019m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,\u201d McCall said (transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting). \u201cI\u2019m done. This sport [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ian-McCall.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Tom Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\"},\"headline\":\"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":402,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Ian McCall\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"name\":\"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ian McCall\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87\",\"name\":\"Tom Taylor\",\"description\":\"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","og_description":"After 15 years as a professional fighter, Ian McCall has announced his retirement from MMA. McCall made this announcement on Monday&#8217;s edition of The MMA Hour. \u201cI\u2019m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,\u201d McCall said (transcribed by Alexander K. Lee for MMA Fighting). \u201cI\u2019m done. This sport [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ian-McCall.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Tom Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Tom Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"author":{"name":"Tom Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87"},"headline":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA","datePublished":"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"wordCount":402,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Ian McCall"],"inLanguage":"en-US","copyrightYear":"2018","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","name":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-05-21T18:01:36+00:00","dateModified":"2018-05-21T18:06:26+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/former-ufc-rizin-star-ian-mccall-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ian McCall","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ian-mccall\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Former UFC, Rizin star Ian McCall announces retirement from MMA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA &amp; UFC News, Results &amp; Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/e1a3f1e5a045aeaf5b59aa1549a06a87","name":"Tom Taylor","description":"Tom Taylor is a globetrotting writer currently based in Ottawa, Canada. He is a staff writer for BJPenn.com, and also covers mixed martial arts for Fightland and Vice Sports. Follow him on Twitter @TomTayMMA.","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/tom-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276853"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54430"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}