UFC veteran Karolina Kowalkiewicz returned to the winning sheet at UFC Vegas 56.
Kowalkiewicz took on Felice Herrig at UFC Vegas 56 on Saturday and managed to secure a second-round submission of Herrig via rear-naked choke. She was reeling off a skid in her professional career that saw her drop five in a row. Interestingly, Kowalkieiwicz’s last victory inside the octagon came against Herrig in April 2018.
A teary-eyed Kowalkiewicz could not hold back her tears after her win, clocked at the 4:01 mark of Round 2.
Felice Herrig retires at UFC Vegas 56
As the two fighters regrouped for the official decision announcement, Herrig declared her retirement by removing her gloves and keeping them in the center of the octagon. Herrig then later confirmed that she was indeed hanging up the gloves and will be moving on from the sport.
“It’s been an honor being in the UFC for eight years and fighting for 20. The biggest thing for me was I had two ACL surgeries and I really wanted to not go out like that. I wanted to prove to myself that I can overcome two knee surgeries and come back and still fight at the highest level.
I felt better than ever in training, my mind felt great, I had so much good energy and positivity and great people around me, great coaches, but I knew that if I wasn’t feeling it in the cage that it was just going to be my last fight. And not in a bad way, I just feel like there’s something else for me.
“It’s time for me to close this chapter in my life, which is really sad because I’ve committed the past 20 years to it, but it’s just time to move on to something else.”
