MMA retirement for Kirkcaldy’s UFC star Stevie ‘Braveheart’ Ray

The 30-year old from Kirkcaldy made the emotional announcement via his Facebook page on Monday where he explained the nature of the problem and why he had taken the decision.

He said: “I’ve been thinking about this for a wee while.

“My last fight when I beat Michael Johnson was probably the biggest win of my career and I then signed a four fight contract with the UFC.

“Going back before that, for my last three fights my knee has been pretty badly damaged.

“Those that train with me, or are close to me, will know that I was having to spend a lot of days off from training icing my knee .

“There was a lot of stuff I wasn’t able to do, for example I was really struggling to wrestle and throw any kicks so I had to really adapt all of my training.

“I’ve had knee problems for a long time, I’ve had three different knee surgeries.

“I have osteophytes where there’s bone lumps growing on my bone and I can’t actually straighten my left leg.

“It’s always under tension anytime I’m walking or doing anything nevermind when I’m doing MMA training.

“There were options to maybe get a surgery that meant cutting the bone and putting plates in.

“Some athletes never return after that and because it’s quite a big surgery with around a year rehab.

“At this stage of my career I didn’t want to go through that.”

Ray also said he is now hoping to focus more on his Braveheart MMA gym in Kirkcaldy and working as a manager and coach for other fighters.

“A few people said I should have fought a few more fights just for the paycheck.

“It sounds alright but when you’ve made a name for yourself to go in a lose a fight just for a paycheck and possibly get knocked out - I don’t think that would be worth it.

“I’ve loved MMA, it will still be a part of my life as I focus on coaching at my gym full time.

“I’ll eventually be opening up day classes, it’s just night classes for now, and there are a few other things I’ve been thinking about doing - bootcamps and fitness classes to help people get in shape.

“I’m pretty clued up about fitness and losing weight, I could help people make weight for fights and I might eventually get into managing fighters since I know how the game works and what fighters are looking for.”