Henry Cejudo announced his shock retirement after retaining his bantamweight title against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249.
Cejudo scored a contentious second-round TKO over Cruz as the UFC returned behind closed doors in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The co-main event was stopped at 4:50 of the second round before former flyweight champion Cejudo surprisingly called time on his UFC career.
"I'm happy with my career; I've done enough in the sport," Cejudo, 33, said during his post-fight interview insight the Octagon.
"I want to walk away; I want to enjoy myself. I'm 33 years old. I have a girl now, a man who's watching back home. I eventually want to start a family.
"Since I was 11 years old, I sacrificed my whole life to get where I'm at today; I'm not gonna let nobody take that away from me."
Triple C out. @HenryCejudo #UFC249 pic.twitter.com/9iPPLTkb1h
— UFC (@ufc) May 10, 2020
Two-time former titleholder Cruz was fighting for the first time in 1,226 days and he was left frustrated by the referee's decision to stop the bout at VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena.
"I'm not happy with the stoppage because I specifically asked the referee to let me go," Cruz said.
"I was on my way up. I was definitely still aware what was going on I get there were unanswered blows, that's part of the fight. You can't be standing out and be knocked out at the same time."
