Nick Catone retires from MMA, cites chronic injuries
Lingering injuries, including chronic back pain, have forced UFC middleweight Nick Catone to retire from MMA.
It was a great ride the last 6+ yrs w/ @ufc it's time for me to step away. I would like to thank @danawhite @lorenzofertitta for everything.
— Nick Catone UFC (@NickCatone) March 25, 2015
"I'm trying to play with my daughter on the floor and there's days I'm having a hard time getting up and I'm like, man," Catone told MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi. "The stuff starts hitting you a little bit. There's more to it than just fighting."
Catone, who has fought only once since 2012, was scheduled to face Vitor Miranda at UFC on FOX 15 in April, but lingering pain, the result of a lifetime of wrestling and MMA, was too much for him to finish a proper training camp.
"It's all those years of wrestling, being in a D-I room for five years and then training MMA," Catone said. "It's just a lot of things that have been adding up. I just don't feel like I can train the way I used to. It's not that I don't think I can make it to the fight, but it's like when you're so used to doing something for so long and then you try to change your ways, it can kind of mentally get to you, too. You can feel like you're not doing enough. You feel guilty because you take a day or two off because you need to recover.
"My body has just been taking a beating. I got other things I'd like to focus my time on. It's just time to step away."
The 33-year-old New Jersey native posted a 4-4 record in the UFC (10-4 MMA), capturing a split-decision victory over Tom Watson in his final bout at UFC 169 in February 2014.