Stephan Struve is retiring and it is long overdue

Skyscraper Struve has "retired" in the past but then like a lot of UFC retirements he (or she) returns when the money is right. Yesterday, he announced (via friggin Twitter of all places) that he is retiring for real this time, citing a slew of health problems. I think he should retire not necessarily because of health problems but because he hasn't been a serious contender since the early 2010's and is basically a punching bag for Dana White to put some other heavyweight into real contention.


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Roy Nelson turning his face into jelly is one of my favorite times that Struve lost

Struve has been around a long time and just like most of the veterans that are sticking around, he probably should have moved to a less competitive franchise like Strikeforce or Bellator years ago. Instead, he just loses over and over again and becomes someone that isn't even featured on cards or in highlight reels unless he gets made to go to sleep.

He is has one victory in 6 fights since 2016, the last two defeats being rather brutal KO's at the hands of opponents that were clearly on a different level than he was from the very start.


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His last fight against unranked Tai Tuivasa (who?) at UFC 254 saw the tall fella just get swarmed, taken to the ground, constantly be on the defensive, leaning against the fence, and basically not even being able to put any offense out there at all. Struve was only able to throw 13 strikes TOTAL before he was KO'd in the very first round. Let me tell you about Tuivasa, and I had to look this up in order to even know it: He has lost, badly, to any of the people he was up against that you have ever heard of including Junior Dos Santos - who is also a punching bag that needs to retire / move to another promotion in the heavyweight division.

My thoughts on Struve's decision to retire is a mixed bag. There is no doubt in my mind that the repeated beatings he has taken has probably taken a bad hold on his overall health and that his afflictions are real. However, I don't think that his retirement was entirely his choice. Dana has likely used him up all that he can and now no longer feels as though he is relevant enough to even put on a card. You don't get to go 1-6 and keep fighting on an elite level. That is, unless your name is Anderson Silva.

I hope that he was able to get enough money in the end in order to open his own gym or whatever it is that UFC guys do when they get sent out to pasture and even though I find / found him to be one of the least interesting heavyweights of all time in the UFC (he looked out of place in the octagon) I don't wish him any ill health. If anyone was going to end up facing some sort of long-term damage from UFC later in life, "Skyscraper" would be a likely candidate. This guy has been KO'd more than Glass Joe in Mike Tyson's Punch Out.



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I am not an avid UFC or MMA follower but even I know this guy. I paid attention to the sport back about 6 years ago or so and it seemed as though Struve was always losing when it mattered most - which is at big time PPV's.

I wonder what sort of shape this guy is going to be in 20 years from now? He's been concussed like 20 times.

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