“No One Cares”: UFC Fighter Announces Retirement at Cannonier vs. Rodrigues Event, Fans Express Relief

Women’s bantamweight fighter Julia Avila just called it quits after her loss to Jacqueline Cavalcanti at UFC Vegas 102: Cannonier vs. Rodrigues earlier today. Also known as the ‘Raging Panda’, Julia fought six times under the UFC banner. Unfortunately, fans have been particularly cruel to her since she made the announcement.

Julia managed to string together a two-fight streak at the beginning of her career but ended up losing the next three of her four fights. Her most notable fight was against former world champion Meisha Tate in December 2023, when she was submitted with a rear-necked choke. While Julia showed a lot of potential on her journey to the UFC, upon reaching the bright lights of the octagon, that promise faded away rather quickly.

And now people are celebrating and claiming relief in her retirement. This man was especially unkind and claimed, “Oh man I’m gonna miss her opening the prelims and forgettable decision fights so much“, while another questioned, “Why the f*ck are we giving Julia Avila a retirement speech“? “No one cares“, reiterated another Twitter user.

It should be noted that these are mere responses from people who have never been inside a cage and fought, for real mixed martial arts is not about kicking people when they are down!

Avila was tough tonight, taking down an ungodly amount of punishment from Cavalcanti and still ensuring she got through to the judges’ decision. Despite her toughness, Julia actually had a rough time adjusting to Cavalcanti’s pace in the octagon. But that doesn’t necessarily come as a surprise.

Despite being ranked 13th in the women’s bantamweight division, Avila hadn’t fought in 400 days. So ring rust was to be expected, especially considering she is 36-years-old and her opponent, Cavalcanti was on a 6-fight winning streak.

Regardless, Avila isn’t disheartened and is looking forward to her post-fight career.

Avila’s heartfelt retirement speech

During the post-fight presser, Julia told the media that while she was unsuccessful in becoming the champion that friends, fans, and teammates deserved, she was happy to have done so much more. According to Julia, she was able to give them hope.

In a cute moment that seemingly got hijacked by her infant daughter, Julia asserted that she did everything despite being a “poor girl from the streets of LA” and a first-generation Mexican-American who took advantage of what the country had to offer her. “I am proof of the American dream“, she added. Julia now wants people to remember her as someone who never gave up.

The bantamweight knew she was going to call it a day coming into the fight.

Speaking further about the definitive moment, she said, “I just had a really hard practice and I couldn’t pick up my daughter. I physically couldn’t. I hurt and she just needed me to pick her up. I sat down, I held and we both cried. And I knew that it was time for me to not be so selfish.”

Avila will now trade her gloves for her master’s in decision engineering analytics, while still competing in Jiu-Jitsu.