Ross Pearson has hung up his four-ounce gloves for good.
On Monday night, the 34-year-old took took to Instagram to announce he was heading for retirement after 15 years of professional fighting.
Pearson (20-16-1) broke into the UFC after winning Season 9 of The Ultimate Fighter. Dubbed TUF: United States vs. United Kingdom, the man known as “The Real Deal” rattled off wins over American foes A.J. Wenn, Richie Whitson and Jason Dent before winning the tournament against teammate Andre Winner.
From here, the Englishman would score notable wins over Dennis Siver, Spencer Fisher and Junior Assunção before securing a coaching gig opposite George Sotiropoulos on TUF: The Smashes, which featured young upstarts such as Norman Parke, Brad Scott and current middleweight champion Robert Whittaker.
After eventually securing victory over his Australian rival, Pearson would trade wins and losses — which included knockouts over Gray Maynard and Sam Stout — over the next four years before dropping four straight from 2016 to 2017. While he would eventually right the ship with a win over Mizuto Hirota, he would suffer two more defeats at the hands of John Makdessi and Desmond Green before deciding to call it a career.
Pearson heads into retirement with 12 career stoppage wins, including seven by way of (T)KO, and three Fight of the Night bonuses.
Source: MMAfighting.com
