“Irish Joe” Duffy (properly Joseph Duffy) has decided to hang up the gloves following UFC Fight Island 2 on Saturday night.
The lightweight fighter announced the news on social media following his loss to Joel Alvarez. The defeat was the Irish fighter’s third straight inside the octagon, following losses to Marc Diakiese and James Vick.
“Thank you all so much for all your messages of support all week. I have been blessed on this journey in MMA and am truly grateful for every experience,” Duffy wrote on his official Instagram. “I felt great all through camp and even warming up, I believed I was back to my former self then when I went in there it just falls to pieces. I think it’s time to realize that I haven’t got what it takes any more. Congrats to Joel Alvarez and thank you to the UFC for all the opportunities. I’m sorry I didn’t achieve what I set out to achieve for my fans, family, friends and myself but it just wasn’t meant to be. I am officially retiring from MMA competition.”
Things started out on a much brighter note for Duffy. He opened up his career on a 10-0 run, fighting in England, Wales, and his native Ireland. After picking up a win over future UFC fighter and TUF Smashes winner Norman Parke, Duffy landed a spot on The Ultimate Fighter 12, but was quickly eliminated.
He bounced back in style, defeating a little-known fighter by the name of Conor McGregor in his next bout.
From there, his 10-0 run as a pro took him all the way to a shot at the Cage Warriors lightweight title. He came up short, being handed his first loss. But a couple more wins landed him in the UFC, where he won his first two bouts. In fact, Duffy would go 4-1 through his first five UFC outings, the only loss coming to future interim champ Dustin Poirier.
Then came the three-fight skid and retirement. Unfortunately, Duffy was hampered by injury and inconsistency in the latter part of his UFC run, missing all of 2018 due to injuries and fights falling through.
Just 32-years old, Duffy finishes his career with an overall record of 16-5.
