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UFC veteran Erick Silva retires at 38 following post-COVID-19 heart attack

Welterweight Erick Silva has decided to call it a career after a health scare. At 38 years of age, the UFC and Bellator veteran felt like it was time to retire from mixed martial arts after sustaining a heart attack back in June 2021.

In an interview with Globo Esporte, Silva detailed what it was like to go through the entire process, which even left him in intensive care at the hospital for one week. After the ordeal, which his doctor attributed to a complication from COVID-19, the Brazilian felt like it fighting was too much of a risk at that point.