"Hopefully just an emotional decision" - Fans react as UFC 297 fighter announces retirement after getting finished thrice in a row

A UFC 297 fighter has seemingly decided to retire from professional MMA competition. The athlete in question took to their official social media account in order to hint that they'd chosen to hang up the gloves.

UFC 297 transpired at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on Jan. 20, 2024. It was headlined by a pair of UFC world title matchups: the Sean Strickland vs. Dricus du Plessis middleweight title bout and the Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva women's bantamweight title fight.

Furthermore, the event's first bout, which opened the early preliminary card, was a men's catchweight (127.5-pound) bout featuring Canada's Malcolm Gordon and America's Jimmy Flick. Gordon missed the non-title bout flyweight limit (126 pounds) by weighing in at 127.5 pounds. Notably, both fighters were coming off two consecutive defeats.

The Malcolm Gordon vs. Jimmy Flick showdown witnessed 'The Brick' defeat Gordon via second-round submission (arm-triangle choke). Gordon later took to Instagram and posted the term "Retired" to his Instagram Stories section.

The MMA community has weighed in on the same, with many fans expressing their support for the 33-year-old fighter who goes by the moniker 'X'. A few X users noted that Gordon took his gloves off inside the octagon, a sign that he's likely retiring.

They indicated that the UFC ought to have given him an opportunity to announce his retirement right there in front of the fans in attendance in his native Canada.

One X user alluded that Gordon has a high-risk, entertaining style of fighting, and he would be suited to the sport of bare-knuckle boxing in the BKFC or could try his hand at bare-knuckle MMA for Gamebred FC. A few other netizens implied that being a professional fighter is challenging and that he made the smart choice by retiring.

One fan tweeted:

"Hopefully just an emotional decision. I think his style would be fun for BKFC or Gamebred MMA he goes for broke no one can argue that"

Check out the screenshots of a few tweets regarding Gordon's retirement insinuation after UFC 297 below:

Screenshots of fan reactions

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Revisiting Malcolm Gordon's octagon journey amid retirement speculation after UFC 297

Malcolm Gordon made his professional MMA debut in October 2012 and entered the UFC in July 2020. His MMA record stands at 14 wins and 8 losses, with a UFC record of 2-5. In his last three matchups, 'X' was beaten within the distance, either by submission or KO/TKO.

The Canadian MMA fighter suffered a third-round submission defeat against Muhammad Mokaev in October 2022, and he then lost by first-round TKO to Jake Hadley in March 2023. In his most recent octagon appearance (at UFC 297), Gordon lost by way of second-round submission at the hands of Jimmy Flick.

Presently, his Instagram Stories post is being viewed as a clear indication that he's decided to retire from MMA. Whether or not he puts forth a detailed statement concerning his apparent retirement remains to be seen.