Petruzelli (photo via Elite XC)

By FCF Staff

Renato “Babalu” Sobral isn’t the only vet who’s decided to retire following his loss at Bellator 96 Wednesday, as Seth Petruzelli has also announced he’s hanging up the gloves.

The 33 year-old light-heavyweight was knocked out by “King Mo” Lawal at the event, which marked the second time this year Petruzelli has been stopped. In January, he was TKO’d by Jacob Noe at Bellator 85.

The former TUF 2 competitor released the following statement via Twitter:

I want to thank my family, friends, fiancé and fans for being by my side these past 13 years plus of my MMA career. Every time I fought it was to please and excite you but most of all make you proud of me. Up until a couple years ago it pleased and excited me as well. That is where I went wrong, for the past couple years I have been fighting for the wrong reasons, I don’t have the desire or drive to fight like I used to and the past couple fights have shown it. So at this point in my life I would like to officially announce my retirement from the sport of MMA. Competing has been a part of my life since I was 6 years old, now I would like to put more of an effort into seeing my students/fighters do the same and making my gym grow and flourish. MMA has taken me around the world, let me meet the best and worst of people and made me feel like the brightest star but also like a black hole at times. ..and I have no regrets because I did it all my way.

Petruzelli concludes his career having gone 14-8 since he turned pro in 2000.

Arguably the “The Silverback’s” biggest win took place in 2008, when knocked out “Kimbo Slice” in just 14 seconds under the EliteXC banner. The bout was broadcast to millions of viewers via CBS.

Last August, Petruzelli stopped former UFC champ Ricco Rodriguez to begin his three fight run with Bellator.