With tears in his eyes and admitting regret, Darren Stewart announced his MMA retirement.
After taking a job on the railway tracks to provide for his family, the father of two thought his fighting days were over.
Credit: Getty
But an opportunity Stewart had been waiting for finally arose, giving his career a second chance.
Stewart had a professional MMA career since 2014, including five years in UFC until a losing streak led him to the local scene.
Following six Cage Warriors fights, the Londoner’s fight offers diminished, leading to a heartbreaking retirement announcement.
Stewart, 34, told SunSport: “That day I was asking, ‘What’s happening with any more fights?'”
“And I was told that there might not be any more fights until the end of the year.”
“And I fought at the beginning of the year, so how am I going to survive?”
“Remember, I have no job, how am I going to survive from the beginning of the year to the end of the year? No sponsorships, I mean, nothing.”
“And then when I got that message, I started breaking down in tears. I was crying, I said, ‘You know what? I’m done.'”
“My wife came and said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘I’m going to call it a day.’ I think she said something like, ‘Yeah, but you always say this.'”
“I was like, ‘I’m done now.’ That’s a hard thing to do, and I had to do it.”
Stewart was a full-time fighter, relying solely on fight earnings, and his fight camp expenses were piling up.
He said: “I was getting loads of messages asking, why, why, why?”
“I said, ‘What do you mean why?’ I’m not getting any help as a fighter, people just see us fight – it’s more than that.”
“What happens after the fight? What happens after three, five minutes (rounds). You have to pay this, you pay that.”
“I didn’t have any sponsorship either, so you have to pay this and pay that. It’s just too much, man.”
“And then what you’re left with has to cover your rent until whenever, and when is the next fight? You don’t know.”
Stewart took a job working on railway tracks and was clocking in every evening as a retired fighter.
But everything changed when he received a call from Misfits Boxing, an opportunity he had been considering for some time.
Misfits, led by YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI, hosts celebrity-style crossover bouts.
And Stewart will fight former UFC star Darren Till, 32, in Manchester on March 29, having never lost hope for another chance.
He said: “It was a struggle, man.”
“I started working on the railway, going to work every night when everyone’s sleeping. Working on the tracks, lifting heavy stuff. It’s not me.”
“I mean, my body wasn’t recovering, it was a big struggle. I just kept praying and saying, ‘You know what, something will come around, something will come around.'”
“I had good people around me, and I was still training with my coach. I not only box with him, but I also do rehab with him.”
‘It’s sad that I’m saying it’
“So I do my rehab, get my mobility back for all the years and trauma that my body took from MMA.”
Stewart admits regretting putting all his eggs in the MMA basket without a backup plan.
And he would advise his eldest son Tyler, who has just started judo, against doing the same.
Stewart said with rare honesty: “I will support him, but I’ll say to him, ‘Do something else, just learn it for self-defense.'”
“And depending on what he goes into as well. If he’s really good at it, I can’t say anything, I’ve got to support him, but if you’re just doing it for fun, no, it’s not a fun game.”
“Fighting’s a real thing, just do it for self-defense and go do something else. It’s sad that I’m saying it.”
“I know people don’t want to hear this, but I’m the only guy I tell you the truth.”
“I should write a book after this, honestly. A lot of people aren’t telling you this. When I speak to people, they’re like, ‘Wow, really?’ Yeah, really.”
“I’ll tell my son, ‘You know what, if you really want to, I’ll support you, but honestly, just learn self-defense and keep it moving’.”
Credit: @darren_mma
