UFC Lightweight Yves Edwards Retires After 17-Year Pro Career

Yves Edwards, one of the most distinguished MMA lightweights of all time, announced his retirement from professional fighting Sunday.

The 38-year-old Edwards finishes his career with a record of 42-22-1 (1). The retirement announcement came in a post on his Facebook page. 

"Fighting has been a part of my life ever since I was 17 and that makes this a hard pill to swallow but it's time for me to end this chapter and move on to the next part of my life," the post read in part.

Edwards peaked as a fighter during the early 2000s, before mixed martial arts took off in the U.S. That's particularly true for lightweights: Though the UFC crowned its first lightweight champ in 2001, the division didn't get going in earnest until around 2006.

Unfortunately for Edwards, the prime of his career coincided perfectly with this dormancy period.

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

A native of the Bahamas, Edwards moved to Texas and cut his fighting teeth in regional promotions. He debuted in the UFC as a welterweight, taking on Matt Serra at UFC 33 in 2001. Though that and his Octagon lightweight debut (against Caol Uno) were both defeats, he went on to rip off several wins in a row over top competitors like Josh Thomson, Hermes Franca and Rich Clementi. At one point, Edwards won six consecutive bouts in the UFC.

Edwards also competed in several other promotions like Pride, the WEC and EliteXC.

In recent years, Edwards fell on hard times. If not for a no-contest ruling that resulted after opponent Yancy Medeiros failed a drug test, Edwards would have been a loser in five straight. He had not won a bout since a December 2012 defeat of Jeremy Stephens.

"I've thought about how to say this for a week now, but there's no better way than to just do it," Edwards wrote in his Facebook post. "I'd like to say thank you to all the people that I've met through and because of fighting, friends, training partners, coaches, fight fans, doctors and even some promoters/matchmakers. A lot of you guys have always shown me nothing but love and I really appreciate that."