...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Following consecutive losses in the UFC, 30-year-old middleweight Tom DeBlass has decided to retire from the sport after just nine fights and a little over two years of competition.
DeBlass lost a decision to Cyrille Diabate in Sweden this April on short notice in his UFC debut. Following that, he lost a decision this past Saturday at UFC on Fuel 6 in Macau, China to Riki Fukuda. DeBlass then took to Twitter on Tuesday night to reveal his decision, which was in part influenced by other goals with his family and training academies.
"After a lot of talk with my family and Coaches, I have decided to retire from fighting and focus on my family, my Academy, and helping my students to achieve their goals," DeBlass wrote on Tuesday night. "I have had the opportunity to win the Pan American games, the No Gi World Championships, and National Championships, the Abu Dhabi trials and compete in Abu Dhabi. I have competed all over the world at 30 years old. I fought for Ring of Combat and won their titles. I made it to UFC in a year and a half."
"I know I am no where near my prime, however I feel my time is better spent else where. I want more [than] one Academy. At this time I feel it's best for me to give my time to others, and spend more time with my family. The drive to keep fighting is not there any longer. I have an amazing Academy and feel my students need my full attention. Maybe I will return to Jiu-Jitsu competition. Thanks to everyone for the support. It's been an awesome ride. God Bless."
Penick's Analysis: It's always a little disappointing to see a career end early like this, but DeBlass clearly has other things he wants to focus on outside of fighting, and it's great for him that he can know what he wants to do and move towards those goals. As he said, he made it to the UFC in a year and a half, and though he fell short in both fights - his only two career losses - he still can say he made it there. It can't be taken away from him, and though it's unfortunate he won't try to make a run at turning things around, good on him for knowing himself and when he's ready to go.
(Attention MMATorch app users: Make sure to upgrade to the latest edition of the MMATorch app on your iPhone, iPad, or Android device!)
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
