Image Source- Sportsnet

Only 6 years into his professional career, 33 year old UFC light heavyweight Cody Donavon has retired from MMA.

The Coloradan, who had a total of 15 fights throughout his career, made the announcement on last week.

After coming through the Grudge Training Center near Denver, Donavon went on to produce a record of 8 wins and 5 defeats in MMA, with his last 3 defeats all coming one after the other either by KO or TKO. This is was one of the key reasons why Donavon has seen fit to retire from his short-lived MMA career. Donavon stated, “I love fighting and competing but my body is no longer allowing me to do so.”

His final fight came in July at UFC Fight Night 46 in Dublin where he was defeated within just 3 seconds to go of the first round after an impressive early exchange against Ukrainian fighter Nikita Krylov. Back in November, Donavon was defeated by Gian Villante with a second round TKO at UFC 167, and before that he was knocked out within 2 minutes against Ovince Saint Preux at UFC Fight Night 26 in Boston.

Donavon had previously hinted at his forthcoming retirement back in 2013 in an interview with UFC in the run up to his fight against Ovince Saint Preux by stating, “"There was no part of me that wanted to stop fighting, but at the same time, I didn't want to be one of those guys that is delusional. If this isn't gonna happen, it's not gonna happen, and I'll move on and be successful at something else."

UFC enthusiasts will be very surprised to hear about Donavon’s very sudden decision to retire after such a short lived career in relation to other athletes in all sports, but in such a gruelling environment and with issues surrounding his fitness, Donavon now be considered amongst the likes of Nick Denis and Quinn Mulhern as fighters who retired before they became well-known figures in MMA.