Did Kurt Pellegrino take a hasty decision by calling it quits, or did he not want to lose anymore? – UFC Special
Kurt Pellegrino may have some energy in him but he is not willing to take any chance. The 32-year old American mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from New Jersey decided it was finally time to hand his shorts. The MMA fighter from the lightweight division does
not want to carry on with his MMA career. The fighter, who specializes in wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, announced his retirement on Saturday, November 26, 2011. Although he had announced his retirement once more earlier this year, but this time he was
serious not to come back.
His decision to leave the MMA career came soon after he made his unsuccessful Bellator debut. Fighting in the Bellator Fighting Championships’ Bellator 59 event held in Caesars Atlantic City, New Jersey, was the event, which proved to be too much of a burden
on Pellegrino’s career. He lost the bout against South African MMA fighter Patricky Freire. What the spectators in the arena saw was Pellegrino entering his first fight for the Bellator Fighting Championships. But at the back of Pellegrino’s mind, he was fighting
for a win that could give him some hope in keeping his MMA career alive.
Before the Bellator 59 bout, Pellegrino had lost two consecutive fights, which were just too much for his career. He lost the fight through a unanimous decision at UFC 116 in July 2010 when the Georges Sotiropoulos, the Australian MMA fighter defeated Pellegrino.
In March 2011, Pellegrino was again unsuccessful in winning his fight at UFC 128. His bout was against Gleison Tiabu from Brazil. The Brazilian MMA fighter’s win over Pellegrino was a burden that Pellegrino could not cope up with.
Looking at the MMA career statistics of Pellegrino, he has won twenty-one fights in his career with six loses. None of his fights ended in a draw that meant he always looked for a win, which he did. In March 2011, when he lost his UFC bout against Gleison
Tibau, he decided not to fight with UFC any longer. That was the moment when he did continued on with his UFC contract.
His time wih the UFC ended and he decided to make a fresh start in the Bellator Fighting Championship with Bellator 59 event being his debut one. The same fate followed him at Bellator 59 where he was unable to score a win and
the dark shadows of defeat followed him from UFC to Bellator.
After his knockout loss by the hands of the Brazilian at Bellator 59, Pellegrino took the decision of leaving the MMA career for good. One might wonder if he made his decision in haste, for he may have gone to fight in a couple of more fights in his career.
He had a decent win/loss ratio of 22/6 in his MMA career. Pellegrino won three consecutive fights from 2002 to 2004. He fought in his very first MMA professional fight for the World Cagefighting Championships at WEC 4 in August 2002 where he defeated American
MMA fighter Mac Danzig.
In November 2003, he beat Jay Isip at Reality Fighting 5 with a submission move. He later defeated Muhsin Corbbrey at Reality Fighting 6 event in April 2004. After a loss to Satoru Kitaoka at the Pancrease 2004 event in July 2004,
Pellegrino won five consecutive fights from November 2004 to February 2006 where he defeated Jay Palmer, Sergey olyaev, Steve Kinnison, Kazuki Okubo and Vadim Kulchitskiy. In July 2006 he faced a defeat by the hands of Drew Fickett followed by a three match
consecutive win.
From September 2008 to March 2010, after winning another four consecutive bouts in his career by beating Thiago Tavares, Rob Emerson, Josh Neer and Fabricio Camoes, Pellegrino went on a downward spiral with three straight losses.
Maybe his decision was taken with great thought in it. He left UFC because of the losses he faced in the ring.
He hoped to revive his career with Bellator but again ended up losing. If he fights in one more match and wins, then he may consider prolonging his MMA career for a couple of years. Pellegrino would know better the kind of beating he can take in the ring and
with three straight losses in the fighting ring, one may think that Pellegrino has done the right thing by saying farewell to the sport. He was in his prime and leaving at this moment will make people remember his twenty-one wins, rather than to talk about
his last three consecutive losses.
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