by Dane McGuire
UFC veteran Bethe Correia is expressing interest in boxing and bare knuckle boxing after having retired from MMA in October 2021.
She has no plans to return to MMA following a nine-year career due to the various difficulties of training camp.
“I felt physically well, but I think it was more of the mental [aspect],” Correia said on this week’s edition of Trocação Franca.
“A time comes when you can’t take it anymore. I think 90 percent of the athletes that stop fighting MMA do it because of the psychological pressure. We always think we can do it, that our bodies are conditioned to fight, but it’s such a psychological torture, it’s not fun anymore. When it gets to that point, MMA becomes a bit dangerous. You can have an irreversible injury.”
“Training wasn’t pleasurable anymore,” Correia said. “I couldn’t stand people demanding me high performance and doing everything perfect. I got more sad than happy [after training].
In the past, I saw it as a challenge. ‘I’ll be better tomorrow, I’ll train better tomorrow.’ Then I started going home sad, had no desire to train, and that’s bad. When you get to that point, it’s no longer pleasurable for you.”
Correia said she is done in MMA forever and that she still does want to compete.
She did not say if she has had talks with any boxing promoters or the likes of Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship at this time.
Correia retired in October 2021 following a unanimous decision loss to Karol Rosa on the preliminary card of Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 193 in Las Vegas. Correia (11-6-1 MMA, 5-6-1 UFC) lost 30-27, 30-27, and 30-26 on the judges’ scorecards.
Correia had announced her plans to retire from MMA going into the bout.
“(It’s a) Very emotional moment for me,” Correia said in her post-fight interview at the time. “It’s been very emotional for me, a lot of deja vu moments for me. I can only thank the UFC for all the opportunities they gave me.”
She joined the UFC in 2013 where she fought for almost eight years. Correia leaves the sport with notable wins over Sijara Eubanks, Jessica Eye, and Shayna Baszler.
Perhaps her most famous bout was a KO loss to then women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey at UFC 190 in 2015 following an extremely heated build-up.