Former title challenger Bethe Correia retires following loss at UFC Vegas 38

Former UFC women’s bantamweight title challenger Bethe Correia retired following her unanimous decision loss to Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 38.

Correia was shut out by Rosa in what was the final fight of her MMA career on Saturday at UFC Vegas 38. The retirement did not come as a surprise as Correia said before the fight that she planned on retiring from MMA, win, lose, or draw. Still, it’s never easy to see a fighter walk away from the sport, and after losing to Rosa, Correia spoke to reporters about her decision to leave the sport. According to Correia, Saturday night was very emotional.

“(It’s a) very emotional moment for me. It’s been very emotional for me, a lot of deja vu moments for me. I can only thank the UFC for all the opportunities they gave me,” Correia said (h/t MMAjunkie.com).

Correia (11-6-1) is 38 years old and she retires from the UFC with a 5-6-1 record in the Octagon. Her most memorable fight came when she fought Ronda Rousey in the main event of UFC 190 in August 2015. In what was arguably Rousey’s most impressive finish, she knocked Correia out in just 34 seconds. Correia was never able to bounce back from that loss. While she was 9-0 before fighting Rousey, she went just 2-6-1 afterward. Clearly, the knockout defeat to Rousey was the turning point in Correia’s MMA career.

That being said, she did have some decent wins on her resume over the years, including victories over Sijara Eubanks, Jessica Eye, and Shayne Baszler. While Correia was never able to hold UFC gold, she was a top-15 ranked fighter for quite some time. That, and the fact that she did get the chance to fight for UFC gold, and overall she’s probably happy with her UFC career.

We here at BJPenn.com thank Bethe Correia for her years in the fight game and wish her the best of luck in her retirement from MMA.