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MMA Newsvia Yahoo Sports

Julian Erosa Retires From UFC After First Round Finish at Vegas 123

Erosa closed his UFC run with a 91 second knockout of JeongYeong Lee, then laid his gloves down in the cage to call it a career.

Illustration: an empty cage under arena lights, a pair of plain gloves resting on the canvas, no people anywhere in the frame
Illustration by Open Scoring MMA. Generated art, not a photograph, and not a likeness of any real fighter.

The featherweight finished JeongYeong Lee in just 91 seconds at UFC Vegas 123, then walked to the center of the Octagon and laid his gloves down, officially retiring from the UFC. Both Yahoo Sports and Sherdog confirmed the moment, with Sherdog calling it a storybook finish to close out his time in the promotion. The retirement wasn't a total surprise to everyone who follows the sport closely. According to Yahoo Sports, the knockout earned Erosa a 100,000 dollar bonus, a nice bow on a fight he reportedly expected to be a quiet one until he landed the shot that ended it. Our own tracker has him rated 1520 on Elo across seven bouts, a number that reflects just how competitive and unpredictable his UFC tenure was night to night. For Lee, the result means he will look to regroup after a finish that doubled as his opponent's farewell. Our Elo tracker has him rated 1500 across four tracked bouts. Erosa was never a title contender, but he was the kind of fighter who made nearly every appearance worth watching, win or lose. Going out with a first round knockout and a six figure bonus, then immediately pivoting to family life in Yakima, is about as clean an exit as a journeyman gets.

Sources (3)

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This story ran in the November 2, 2026 edition of the daily show.