{"id":309081,"date":"2019-04-08T18:33:02","date_gmt":"2019-04-09T01:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=309081"},"modified":"2019-04-08T18:41:32","modified_gmt":"2019-04-09T01:41:32","slug":"ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>10 years ago, Ross &#8216;The Real Deal&#8217; Pearson made his UFC debut by becoming the lightweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 9 when he defeated Andre Winner via unanimous decision. 25-fights later and the British slugger is now calling it a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-instagram wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BwA_GBihiO7\/\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;After some long hard talks, and careful consideration with my family, friends and team,  I\u2019ve decided it&#8217;s time to retire as an MMA fighter. As hard as that is to say, it\u2019s not the end of my career as a competitor. I\u2019ve always been a fighter, and right now I am keeping my mind open as to what&#8217;s next for me. I&#8217;d like take this time to thank everyone at the @UFC for having me for the past 10 years @danawhite for seeing something in me and believing in me for all these years ago. To my family, my teammates, and my friends, your support has been endless and I appreciate all of you &#8211; with a special shout out to all the north east training partners &amp; coaches who where there for me in the beginning @grapplefit to @alliancemma for taking me in as part of the family, my wife @kristiejpearson for following my dream with me and all the guys at @centralcoastmma. .<br \/> And to all my fans , thanks for all the love &amp; support !&#8221; Pearson said on Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pearson&#8217;s last fight came at UFC Philadelphia when he suffered a first-round TKO loss to Desmond Green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Sunderland, England native was consistently one of the most entertaining strikers in the highly touted 155-pound weight class for the entirety of his tenure having fought several of the division&#8217;s best ranging from the likes of Edson Barboza and Jorge Masvidal to Paul Felder and Al Iaquinta. And those are just four of the several great fighters he went to war with in during his career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 34-year old Pearson will retire with a record of 20-16 (1 NC) in MMA and will always be remembered for bringing the fight to each and every opponent that stood across from him inside the Octagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=A4PWNwpH_dQ\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This article first appeared on <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\"><em>BJPenn.com<\/em><\/a><em> on 4\/8\/2019<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>10 years ago, Ross &#8216;The Real Deal&#8217; Pearson made his UFC debut by becoming the lightweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 9 when he defeated Andre Winner via unanimous decision. 25-fights later and the British slugger is now calling it a career. &#8220;After some long hard talks, and careful consideration with my family, friends [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54445,"featured_media":309088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10571,39610],"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>Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One of the lightweight division&#039;s most consistently entertaining strikers, &quot;The Real Deal,&quot; Ross Pearson has called it a career.\" \/>\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\/ufc\/ross-pearson-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=\"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the lightweight division&#039;s most consistently entertaining strikers, &quot;The Real Deal,&quot; Ross Pearson has called it a career.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-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=\"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ross-Pearson.jpg\" \/>\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\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Drake Riggs\" \/>\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\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\"},\"headline\":\"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Ross Pearson\",\"UFC\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\",\"name\":\"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"One of the lightweight division's most consistently entertaining strikers, \\\"The Real Deal,\\\" Ross Pearson has called it a career.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-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\":\"UFC\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Ross Pearson 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\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7\",\"name\":\"Drake Riggs\",\"description\":\"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_\",\"Drake Riggs\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_\",\"YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","description":"One of the lightweight division's most consistently entertaining strikers, \"The Real Deal,\" Ross Pearson has called it a career.","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\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","og_description":"One of the lightweight division's most consistently entertaining strikers, \"The Real Deal,\" Ross Pearson has called it a career.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Ross-Pearson.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Drake Riggs","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Drake Riggs","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"author":{"name":"Drake Riggs","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7"},"headline":"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA","datePublished":"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"},"wordCount":373,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Ross Pearson","UFC"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/","name":"Ross Pearson announces retirement from MMA | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-04-09T01:33:02+00:00","dateModified":"2019-04-09T01:41:32+00:00","description":"One of the lightweight division's most consistently entertaining strikers, \"The Real Deal,\" Ross Pearson has called it a career.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-announces-retirement-from-mma\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/ross-pearson-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":"UFC","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/ufc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Ross Pearson 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\/cb9453802ca47ce42b30bfa92ade0bc7","name":"Drake Riggs","description":"Drake Riggs is an MMA writer based out of Brush Prairie, Washington, USA who specializes in feature pieces, the women's fight scene, lists, news coverage, and rankings. He has been a passionate fan of MMA ever since 2009. Drake has most notably written for BJPenn.com, FanSided, The Body Lock, South China Morning Post, MyMMANews, WhatCulture, Cageside Press, Sherdog, The Scrap, and MMA Today. He has also written for and created video content for RT Sport. As for other sports, Drake is a longtime fan of the NFL's Green Bay Packers and Jacksonville Jaguars. You can follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @DrakeRiggs_ . Also check out all of his video content on YouTube at YouTube.com\/DrakeRiggs where he uploads fighter interviews, podshows, and various other types of content.","sameAs":["https:\/\/drakeriggs.journoportfolio.com\/","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/drakeriggs_","Drake Riggs","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrakeRiggs_","YouTube.com\/Drake Riggs"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/drake\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309081"}],"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\/54445"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}