Donegal Native Joseph Duffy Officially Retires From MMA

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Twelve-year veteran, 'Irish Joe' Joseph Duffy has officially announced his retirement from professional mixed martial arts, following his submission defeat to Joel Álvarez at UFC Fight Island 3 earlier this evening.

The Donegal native, who plys his trade under Firas Zahabi at Tristar MMA in Canada, dropped his third consecutive career defeat tonight, opposite Spanish submission threat, Álvarez - following a decision blemish against Marc Diakiese, and a knockout loss to James Vick.

Making his UFC debut in March 2015 at UFC 185, the 32-year-old hit the ground running with wins over Jake Lindsey, and then Ivan Jorge - prior to a defeat against one-time interim lightweight titleholder, Dustin 'The Diamond' Poirier. Embarking on a two-fight rise, Duffy scored a submission win over Mitch Clarke, before taking a unanimous judging against, Reza Madadi. 

Taking to his official Instagram account on Saturday night, Duffy released a statement following his defeat to the aforenoted, Álvarez - announcing his official retirement in the process.

"Thank you all so much for your messages of support all week. I have been blessed on this journey in MMA and am truly grateful for every experience. 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 Álvarez 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."

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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. 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 👊🏻

A post shared by Joe Duffy (@duffymma) on Jul 18, 2020 at 4:55pm PDT

Prior to his UFC banner debut, Duffy managed to score a 12-1 professional record, competing in regional promotions such as Cage Warriors, and Spartan Fight Challenge. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu purple belt holds high-profile career wins over former interim KSW lightweight titleholder, 'Stormin'' Norman Parke, and in November of 2010, submitted future UFC featherweight and lightweight world champion, 'The Notorious' Conor McGregor via an arm-triangle.