Bad news today in the world of combat sports as kickboxing legend and former mixed martial arts fighter Semmy Schilt has retired from combat sports due to a heart condition. LiverKick.com was first to report news of Schilt’s retirement, who will walk away from the ring and cage just shy of his 40th birthday. The tall Dutchman is obviously best known for his time in kickboxing, as he went 43-6-1 with 20 knockouts while continuously fighting the best competition in the world in that sport. Schilt was a multiple-time K-1 world champion as well as a world champion in GLORY, and he always made the crowd stand on their feet for his fights as he was consistently involved in exciting bouts. But besides kickboxing, Schilt was also a very underrated mixed martial arts fighter and it’s a shame we never got to see more of him in the UFC. Schilt overall went 26-14-1 in MMA, including 14 wins by knockout and 10 by way of submission which proved that he wasn’t just a one-dimensional striker, but rather a fully-fledged mixed martial artist. He fought twice in the UFC, defeating Pete Williams via TKO at UFC 31 and losing to Josh Barnett via submission at UFC 32, but those were during the ‘dark days’ of the UFC and not many people remember those fights. He then traveled to Japan and fought in the legendary PRIDE Fighting Championships, where he compiled a 4-4 record with the losses coming to top-ranked fighters such as Barnett, Sergei Kharitonov, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fedor Emelianenko. Additionally, he competed in Pancrase during the 1990s, meaning he was truly a pioneer of MMA and yet he’s never been given the credit he’s deserved. Schilt will leave the combat sports world with his legacy intact as one of the best-ever strikers to step foot in the cage and hopefully his heart troubles aren’t serious and he can live the rest of his life in health and peace. Brimage Drops to Bantamweight UFC featherweight Marcus Brimage, who is currently out on the sidelines with an Achilles tendon injury, will make the move to bantamweight when he returns to the cage in 2014. The news was first reported by MMADieHards.com and was subsequently confirmed by Brimage’s manager Lex McMahon in an interview with MMAjunkie.com. This is a very good move for Brimage, who was fighting undersized at 145. At only 5’4″, Brimage was always shorter than his opponents and so it makes a lot of sense for him to make the move to bantamweight, and I believe he will be much more competitive at that weight. It’s not like Brimage was a bad fighter at 145, as he went 3-0 in the UFC at featherweight with wins over Jimy Hettes, Maximo Blanco and Stephen Bass. However, he was knocked out by Conor McGregor in his last fight at UFC on FUEL TV 9 and the size disadvantage he had at 145 was really obvious against the Irishman. With Brimage likely to be out for a long time and dropping down to a new weight class for the first time, the 28-year-old is probably someone who should be faded in his next outing, but I believe over time the move to 135 will prove to be the right career choice for “The Bama Beast.”
