Dana White: Griffin and Hughes need to retire, there is nothing left to prove

Former Welterweight champion Matt Hughes (45-9 MMA, 18-7 UFC) and former Light Heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin (19-7 MMA, 10-5 UFC) are two fighters that UFC President Dana White thinks need to hang up their gloves. At a press conference yesterday White said: “Hughes is one of these guys that, I absolutely, positively want Matt Hughes to retire. What else is there to accomplish? The guy’s done everything. He’s been a staple in this organization for a long time. He’s been f&@*ing awesome. There’s nothing left to prove. It’s so hard for these guys to say ‘I’m retired.’ It’s so hard. I went through the same thing with Chuck (Liddell), now I’m going through it with Matt.”
 
Hughes hasn’t fought since he suffered a knockout loss to Josh Koscheck at UFC 135 last year. That was his second straight loss by knockout setback after B.J. Penn KOed him in 21 seconds at UFC 123.

Griffin, on the other hand, recently won via split decision over Tito Ortiz at UFC 148 last month. Although things got a little strange when he ran from the cage and had to be called back to the Octagon by White before it was announced.

White told the press: “I would like Forrest to retire. There’s nothing left for Forrest to prove, either. He won ‘The Ultimate Fighter,’ he’s had an amazing career, he won the title when everyone thought he couldn’t, he’s made s#*% loads of money, he’s got a beautiful wife, he’s got a baby. If you don’t want to be a world champion and you’re not in the mix, like I call it, why? What’s the point? I know it’s hard to walk away from walking into the arena with the big crowds and all the s#*%, I get it, but there’s a point in time when it’s like, ‘You’ve done your thing, man. You’ve had an amazing career, you’ve done great things and there’s nothing left to prove’. He doesn’t like hearing it. He doesn’t want to hear it from me.”