5 UFC fighters who should retire in 2019

#3 Thiago Alves

A decade ago, Thiago Alves was one of the world's most feared Welterweights

One of the longest tenured fighters on the current UFC roster, Thiago Alves debuted all the way back in 2005 with a loss to Spencer Fisher, and since then he’s put together 24 appearances in the Octagon, including 14 wins.

Between 2008 and 2010 he was one of the most feared Welterweights on the whole roster and even held wins over the likes of Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck.

That was a long time ago though, and recently, the Brazilian veteran has fallen on hard times. He’s fought only sporadically since 2012, with just one fight in 2014, 2016 and 2017, and his last five fights have seen him suffer four losses.

Prior to 2018 however, Alves had always appeared durable enough even if his speed and reflexes had begun to wane somewhat. His 2017 win over Patrick Cote saw him look as good as he ever had, for instance.

But almost a year later he stepped into the Octagon against Curtis Millender and was simply destroyed by the newcomer, physically overwhelmed in the same way that Alves himself had done to foes like Kuniyoshi Hironaka and Tony DeSouza a decade earlier. It wasn’t a competitive fight in any way.

Another loss – albeit a less devastating one – to Alexey Kunchenko has since followed, and although Alves is currently booked to fight Max Griffin in February, ‘Pitbull’ ought to consider calling it a day after that fight win or lose.

He’s just not as great a physical specimen at 35 years old that he was at 25, and he has nothing more to prove in the UFC after a decade of action. Why should he take any further punishment?