Michael Chiesa shuts down retirement talk after lopsided defeat at UFC 291: ‘I’m just not done yet’
Despite suffering his third consecutive loss over the weekend in a main card opener at UFC 291, welterweight grappler, Michael Chiesa has ruled out an incoming retirement from mixed martial arts, claiming he is “not done just yet” – after his first round submission loss to Kevin Holland.
Chiesa, who slumped to 18-7 as a professional at UFC 291 in Salt Lake City over the weekend, dropped a one-sided opening round loss to the surging, Holland in ‘The Beehive State’ – suffering his third career D’Arce choke submission defeat.
Sidelined since November 2021, Chiesa, who recently underwent surgery to address a greulling back injury, had yet to featured since dropping a unanimous decision loss to Sean Brady at the UFC Apex facility.
Prior to that at UFC 265, Chiesa dropped a D’Arce choke loss to incoming headliner, Vicente Luque.
Michael Chiesa has no plans to call time on career
And despite suggestions of a potential retirement from active competition off the back of his loss to Holland over the weekend, Chiesa claimed he was not ready to hang up his gloves
“MMA fans are coming at me all different types of direction, saying I should retire and I should be done, be a broadcaster now,” Michael Chiesa said on UFC Round Up. “There’s just so many things that people are saying but it’s just gonna sweeten the pot because I’m not done. I just didn’t show up on fight night.”
“Trust me, I’m not gonna be the guy to overstay my welcome,” Michael Chiesa continue. “But I’m just not done yet. I have more to prove to myself.”
Over the course of his tenure in the UFC, The Ultimate Fighter 15 victor, Chiesa has landed wins over the likes of Al Iaquinta, Francisco Trinaldo, Jim Miller, Beneil Dariush, Carlos Condit, Diego Sanchez, Neil Magny, and former lightweight champion, Rafael dos Anjos.
