Aisling Daly retires from MMA due to brain scan abnormality

One of the pioneers of women’s MMA in Europe has called it quits.

Citing an abnormality found in a recent brain scan, Aisling Daly has retired from MMA, she announced Monday on her Instagram page. Daly said a routine scan showed the remnants of a small hemorrhage that had taken place in prior months.

“It would be unlikely I would be medically cleared to compete again, even in the event I could find a doctor who would clear me it would be very unwise for me to continue to compete with the risks involved,” Daly wrote.

Daly (16-6) has not fought since an October 2015 unanimous decision victory over Ericka Almeida in her native Ireland. The Straight Blast Gym product went 2-1 in the UFC and competed on The Ultimate Fighter 20, which debuted women’s strawweight fighters in the promotion. Daly, 29, is a former NAAFS women’s flyweight champion and regarded as not only someone who paved the way for other female fighters in Europe, but also someone who set a path for Irish fighters of both genders.

“My career has ended prematurely but I’m very grateful for my long list of achievements, I am and will always be ‘Ais the first’ for so many things, my legacy set in stone in the history of Irish mixed martial arts,” Daly wrote. “I am the countries first ever world champion, the first and only female to ever do it. I have and always will give back to the sport which has given me so much.”

Daly is a longtime student of coach John Kavanagh and a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. She said she plans on continuing on with MMA as a coach.

“I’m very fortunate to have grown up within such an outstanding organisation as SBG,” Daly said. “I am equipped with the skills to be an exceptional coach and member of the martial arts community and I look forward to seeing what challenges lie ahead for me.”

Brain injuries are a growing cause for concern for fighters. MMA veteran Jon Fitch recently spoke of his possible retirement due to an abnormality in an MRI. Jordan Parsons, tragically killed last year in a hit-and-run, was the first documented diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in MMA last year. CTE can only be officially and fully diagnosed after death. Parsons, a Bellator fighter, was just 25 years old.