Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos fought Nick Diaz and Pele, Gegard Mousasi and Shogun, Melvin Manhoef and Yuki Kondo. Over 19 years he more than 40 fights. But nothing prepared him for the flying knee from Michael Page that ended his career.

People talk about skull busting strikes as a metaphor, but it actually happened.

He initially wanted to fight but, but at age 39 retired without regrets.

I want to thank Scott Coker and all employees from Bellator, who always cared about me and respected me and my work,” he said at the time. “I want to thank Chute Boxe and everyone who believed in me; my family, my friends, and coaches. I don’t regret anything I’ve done or hasn’t done. I want to do my best as a coach now.”

Then he returned to Curitiba, Brazil and taught at Chute Boxe. However, earlier this year he returned to his Chute Boxe – Team Cyborg in Houston, Texas and is now established in the States. In 2016 he had four fights, three of them for Bellator MMA; the money from coaching isn’t near the money from fighting. Still, in an interview with Guilherme Cruz for MMA Fighting, Cyborg, now 40m said he plans to stay retired and keep on coaching, and explains that he was never in it for the money anyway.

I had the privilege of doing 50 fights, and money never was my biggest motivation to fight, said Santos. I’ve always fought for the love for competition, the challenge. That’s what motivated me. I’ve always fought for any money, never choosing who I would fight or for how much.

I leave the cage with my head held high. I have no intentions to return. I would really love to, but everything has its time. I think my time to contribute to the sport inside the ring is over. I have no plans to compete. My projects are outside the ring now.

I’m a black belt in jiu-jitsu, kickboxing, Luta Livre and Muay Thai, and I believe I have plenty of knowledge to share with people, and I want to apply that to the new generation. I’ve contributed inside the ring, and now I’ll look to the future.

If I had someone like me early in my journey, I’m sure I would have accomplished everything I have in half of the time. This is what I want to do, get all this knowledge and teach the youth, plant the seed. MMA is the fastest-rising sport in the world and I want to create champions, form better people through the sport.