Peggy Morgan retires at age 37

Peggy Morgan began practicing boxing and kickboxing in 2002, and competed extensively for five years. She was ranked second in the country as an amateur for three years at 152. Following the birth of her son, she began practicing MMA in 2011, and took to it quickly.

Morgan began fighting professionally in 2012, winning two fights, before landing on The Ultimate Fighter Season 18: Team Rousey vs. Team Tate. She went 1-1 on the series, and got a fight with Jessamyn Duke on the Finale, losing a decision.

‘The Daywalker’ was released and moved to Invicta FC as well as a promotion in her native New England, where she went 2-3, most recently to Megan Anderson, who fights for the league title on Saturday.

She earned a Master’s degree in Literature along the way and was an adjunct college prof for a couple of years; her remarkable writing talent is on display at wloncondwingal. Now Morgan has announced her retirement, via Facebook.

I hadn’t announced this yet because honestly it seems weird to retire from something I never really considered a career (in the sense that it’s inevitably something one can only do for a very limited period of time, not in the sense that I didn’t take it seriously), but I decided after my last fight that I was ready to stop fighting. I’m happy that I did it and deeply grateful for all the amazing opportunities I had. I’m ready to move onto the next phase of my existence, though. I’m hoping to be able to make it as a writer (about fighting but about other things as well), which is kinda funny cuz it’s one of the only occupations I can think of that’s less practical than fighting. Apparently the 6,937,027 shots I took to the head weren’t enough to knock the sense into me.

Check out her latest blog, on fear and fighting and your face blowing up. It’s tremendous.