Eddie
Wineland is calling it a career after 41 professional
bouts.
The former World Extreme Cagefighting champion announced his
retirement on Instagram following a first-round technical knockout
loss to Cody
Stamann in a preliminary bantamweight bout at UFC on ESPN 37 in
Austin, Texas, on Saturday night.
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“I didn’t get an opportunity to leave my gloves in the cage but as
Jim Morrison once sang. ‘this is the end,’” Wineland wrote. “The
road I’ve traveled over the past almost 20 years has seen many
highs and lows, it’s been a fun ride but this train has reached its
final destination!
“I am forever grateful and extremely thankful for the opportunities
given by the UFC, Dana White and Sean Shelby, everything you guys
and the company have done for and given to me I am forever
grateful! Thank you and thank you to the fans who’ve always stood
in my corner, officially retired. Thank you for the memories, time
to turn the page, and on to the next chapter in life!”
Wineland exits the sport with a 24-16-1 mark that was compiled over
the course of a career that began in 2003. He captured WEC gold
with a knockout of Antonio
Banuelos in 2006 and would go on to face some of the sport’s
biggest names at 135 pounds, including Urijah
Faber, Joseph
Benavidez, Renan Barao,
John
Dodson and Sean O’Malley, among others. He challenged for the
UFC interim bantamweight crown at UFC 165, falling to Barao via
second-round TKO. Wineland earned notable victories against the
likes of Takeya
Mizugaki, Brad
Pickett, Scott
Jorgensen, Yves Jabuoin and Frankie
Saenz during his professional tenure. Wineland fell on hard
times in recent years, losing five of his last six bouts —
including three straight via KO or TKO.