Frankie Perez's decision to retire after UFC Fight Night 74 on Sunday came as a complete surprise.
It's not often a 26-year-old walks away from a professional sport, especially when said 26-year-old needed a mere 54 seconds to completely decimate Sam Stout - a fighter who likely should be contemplating retirement himself.
Still, Perez cited the toll that the rigorous training took on his life and family, and decided to walk away on his own terms.
"Honestly I didn't think that (Sunday) would 100 percent be the day," Perez told MMAFighting.com's Chuck Mindenhall on Monday. "When I was sitting there the day before weigh-ins, and I'm sitting there by myself, and I was going over and thinking a lot of things man. I was like, you know what, this is it. I called my mom up first off to let her know, then I called every one of my siblings one by one so that they wouldn't hear it from anybody else, they'd hear it from me. I didn’t tell my dad until I won. I didn't want any distractions.
"And that was it. I didn't talk about it, or talk about it. I was just focused on Sam and getting the W."
Perez even pocketed a $50,000 performance bonus for his speedy shellacking of Stout, a nice influx of cash that still won't convince him to stick around in the UFC.
"Not at all man, I never got into this sport for the money," he said. "I never thought about all the money I could be making. It's nice we can be paid, but I've always had my side businesses to make my money and keep me supported financially."
