The financial strain of being a professional mixed martial artist has become too much for Darren Stewart.
The 33-year-old Brit announced his retirement from MMA on Tuesday in a post on his Instagram account. According to Stewart, continuing to pursue a fighting career has become a burden on his family.
“It hurts me to write this, but I think it’s time to call it a day,” Stewart wrote. “Not by choice, but I’m forced to because I’ve lost a lot to this game trying to survive, and I can’t do it no more. When UFC let me go I should have invested something, but instead I put all my eggs in one basket AGAIN to get back to the top and life has gotten even worse.