Ian McCall announced Monday on The MMA Hour that he is retiring after a 15-year career.
“I’m retiring finally, I think people have been waiting for this for a long time,” McCall said. “I’m done. This sport has taken so much from me — I shouldn’t say it’s taken, I’ve given this sport so much. And sure, I was the best in the world years ago and sure, people keep bringing up my ‘Al Bundy’ moment about beating Demetrious (Johnson), ‘Oh, you’re the guy, blah blah blah.’
“I’ve had a good run, it’s been fun, but at the same time, it’s over. After enough shenanigans that I’ve 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’s like, ‘It always happens to me, the bad things always happen to me,’ well they kind of do in this sport. ... I’m not gaining ground, I’m not getting closer to being the best in the world. The steps are getting farther and farther away and I’m 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’s just not worth it for me.”
In 21 pro bouts, McCall’s record stands at 13-7-1.
Recently, McCall’s career has been on a downward spiral.
In McCall’s last fight on May 6, he was knocked out by Kyoji Horiguchi in less than ten seconds. That outcome influenced his decision to retire and move on to other opportunities, including possibly playing a role in helping the next generation of fighters.
“In Japan, after the fight I just went, you know what, I hate saying this but I can’t catch a break. (Joe) Rogan always talks a bunch of s**t about how people are always like ‘they can’t catch a break’, well I can’t catch a break. But that’s okay, I’m just going to change my situation so I can catch a break,” McCall said.
“I have a work ethic that’s second-to-none, so I’m just going to transfer over what I know work-ethic-wise from MMA to a different job, a different arena. I’ll always be part of MMA, I’ll always be at the gym, I still need to get my black belt in jiu-jitsu. Maybe consult for a fight promotion, I’m not sure what I’m really going to do, I’m talking to Combates, me and Campbell McLaren have been going back and forth.
“There’s a lot of things that I would like to do that have just been ideas, there’s a lot of options, but I would really like to show the younger fighters — because I’ve been somewhat of a pioneer — what there is to do after this sport. Because these guys are screwed. People in this sport aren’t the smartest, sorry guys, we’re not the smartest people in the planet. So it’s really, really sad and really hard to see people not being able to get a job besides being a trainer at a gym for $25 an hour.”
Should a lucrative fight offer come his way someday, McCall states he’d consider fighting again, health permitting, but otherwise doesn’t see that happening.