Takeya Mizugaki

By FCF Staff

After fighting professionally for nearly 15 years, former UFC and WEC contender Takeya Mizugaki has reportedly announced his retirement.

The 36-year-old, Japanese fighter hasn’t competed since last August, when he was knocked out by Manel Kape at a Rizin FF event. Recently MMA Planet.jp reported that Mizugaki is hanging up the gloves.

ありがとうございました！！最高でした！！#MMA https://t.co/e6rrbzMluQ

— Takeya Mizugaki (@takeya_miz) June 2, 2020

Mizugaki (23-4-2) faced many top tier bantamweights during his career, some of which included Jeff Curran, Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, Cody Garbrandt, Aljamain Sterling and Dominick Cruz, among others.

During a stretch from 2012 into 2014, Mizugaki won five straight bouts in the UFC to move into title contention. The aforementioned Cruz, however, ended Mizugaki’s run with a stoppage win at UFC 178.