5 biggest takeaways from UFC on ESPN+ 30: Benavidez’s dangerous plan, Gastelum’s skid, more

Thoughts and analysis of the biggest storylines coming out of UFC on ESPN+ 30, which took place Saturday in Abu Dhabi.

5. Happy trails, Joe Duffy

After his third consecutive loss, [autotag]Joe Duffy[/autotag] announced his retirement from MMA. It was somewhat surprising, but at the same time, not so much.

Listening to Duffy’s interviews ahead of his first-round submission defeat to Joel Alvarez, it was clear a lot was weighing on this fight. He’d taken 16 months off prior and hadn’t won since March 2017, so the writing was somewhat on the wall if it went badly.

Still, though, the manner in which Duffy retired was kind of wholesome. He’s only 32, but admitted that he just doesn’t have it anymore in his retirement statement. There’s probably a lot of fighters Duffy could still beat, but to have that type of self-awareness on the UFC level is quite rare, and very admirable.

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Hopefully Duffy can find happiness in his next chapter, because he deserves it. From a personal perspective he’s been nothing but awesome to me throughout his cover. Always took the time to talk and is a very down-to-Earth individual.

So with that, happy trails to Duffy. His UFC run may not have gone according to plan, but he’ll always have that win over Conor McGregor on his resume.

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