Krzysztof Soszynski has not competed since the end of 2011 and on Friday night’s edition of Inside MMA on AXS TV, the mixed martial arts fighter officially announced his retirement from the sport.
During his official announcement of his retirement, Soszynski (26-12-1) said that his lost to Igor Pokrajac at UFC 140 on December 10, 2011 was the first time in his career that he had been knocked out cold.
“I am no longer fighting,” Soszynski said. “I will never had another mixed martial arts fight again. My last fight in the UFC was December of 2011 and it was my first time getting literally knocked out cold. My brain didn’t wake up for probably 40 minutes until after the fight. There’s an interview, (Dana White’s video blog) and I don’t remember any of that stuff.”
“I just remember walking into the octagon, I remember waking up. I already had my clothes on and had a shower and all that and I have Joe Silva telling me everything is going to be OK and they’re ready for you to go the hospital to get your CT scan, like the UFC always does when a fighter gets knocked out.”
He went on to say that he planned to have one more fight so he had ten fights in the UFC. After taking six months off after the knockout, he contacted the UFC and told them that he was ready to take a fight. He would end up being booked for an event in Australia but he would ultimately pull out of that fight following a his first training session for the fight.
“I had a first little training session, he said. “Sparred with this little 155’er and he hit me in the face, in the jaw once, and my brain literally said no more. I sent an email to the UFC and just them know that I really want this fight but I am having some head trouble. Some memory loss and small things are happening. I am forgetting things. I am forgetting my words.”
“Dana White called me and we had a nice talk. Retired me on the spot. Said, ‘Krzysztof, we are going to retire you, send you over to Las Vegas, get your head checked out, and make sure everything is ok.’ I did that and I did not do really well in my memory test. Apparently I passed everything we did in the day and a half I was in Las Vegas.”
Soszynski would later state in the interview that his memory loss is not getting any better, but also not getting any better. He admitted that he does not remember what happened two days ago and will end up asking his wife the same questions he just asked her the other day.
Following the retirement announcement by Soszynski, Dr. Vernon Williams appeared on the weekly MMA program on AXS TV to discuss what the now retired fighter has to say. Dr. Williams is the Director of the Kerlan-Jobe Center for Sports Neurology and talked about brain injuries with Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten.