Court McGee Pens Emotional Goodbye After Retiring at UFC 332

Court McGee has officially retired from mixed martial arts after a third-round technical knockout loss to Eric Nolan at UFC 332 last Saturday at Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The 41-year-old announced his retirement inside the Octagon immediately after the defeat, then followed up with an emotional written statement saying he gave the sport everything he had. McGee's final fight was the first bout on the preliminary card, a fitting bookend for a fighter who spent his entire UFC career grinding it out without fanfare.

McGee first joined the UFC roster in 2010 after winning The Ultimate Fighter Season 11. He went on to make more than 20 appearances for the promotion, competing at both middleweight and welterweight across a career that spanned nearly two decades of professional fighting.

The Utah native went 1-4 in his last five fights heading into the retirement bout, but the losses did little to diminish the respect he earned across the sport. McGee, who had previously considered retirement due to a neck injury, said before the fight that he wanted to make sure he had his wits about him when he was done.

He leaves the sport as a married father of three who also runs his own gym. McGee told media ahead of UFC 332 that he would be 42 this year and acknowledged that MMA is a young man's game.