Former UFC heavyweight title challenger Jeff Monson has finally hung up his gloves after over 100 fights across a nearly 30-year career.<\/p>\n
The 54-year-old has had an unbelievable run with 93 professional MMA<\/a> bouts since 1997 and countless other fights in other disciplines. He most famously fought for heavyweight<\/a> gold against Tim Sylvia<\/a> at UFC 65, going all five rounds in a tough title effort.<\/p>\n Nowadays the Minnesota native has relocated to Russia where he re-emerged following the pandemic to compete in a number of different sports. But now, as he approaches the midway point of his fifties he has decided to hang up the gloves for good.<\/p>\n Jeff Monson retires from MMA at the age of 54 <\/p>\n After almost three decades, renowned grappler and MMA veteran Jeff Monson decided to hang up his gloves after competing on a regional Russian show. He fought at the Yuri Gagarin Sports Palace in Yevpatoria City to launch the Black Sea Cup, according to Russian media.<\/p>\n His opponent for the night was bare knuckle boxer and 0-2 MMA fighter Maxim Shcherbakov. The Russian is something of a veteran in his own right at the age of 35, but was still nearly 20 years Monson\u2019s junior as they battled it out in a ring.<\/p>\n The fight looked to be a scrappy affair from footage available online, and exact rules are unclear. Monson managed to get a number of takedowns and control position in a number of highlights, but the fight was ultimately ruled a draw.<\/p>\n After the event, the American was presented with a belt by the World Total Kombat Federation as he gave a post-fight interview in seemingly perfect Russian without a hint of English.<\/p>\n Jeff Monson had bizarre journeyman career<\/p>\n Monson\u2019s run took him all over the world and saw him face some of the best in the world. He had a middling early career travelling around America picking up almost as many losses as wins, before heading on a monster 16-fight winning streak that led him to a UFC title shot.<\/p>\n He was defeated over five rounds by Tim Sylvia in a fight that he later claimed \u2018haunted\u2019 him, but the big fights weren\u2019t over yet. He headed back to the regional scene and defeated Roy Nelson<\/a> before getting back to the big show on Strike Force, where he ran into a young Daniel Cormier<\/a> in June of 2011.<\/p>\n