Gian Villante to retire following Chris Barnett fight at UFC 268

Gian Villante will make his eighteenth walk to the Octagon this Saturday night (Nov. 6, 2021) to face Chris Barnett in a Heavyweight bout at the UFC 268 pay-per-view (PPV) event in New York City.

And it will be his last, too.

The long-time veteran has announced that he will retire from the sport win, lose or draw once the dust settles. Villante revealed the news to Newsday (via MMA Junkie).

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Villante made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in 2009 under the Ring of Combat umbrella, racking up six straight wins to begin his career, going 7-1 overall for the promotion before heading over to Strikeforce. After going 3-2 for the now-defunct company, he signed with UFC in 2013.

During his eight-year run with the promotion, Villante racked up a 7-10 record and collected big wins over Corey Anderson and Ed Herman, among others. Villante goes into UFC 268 on a three-fight losing streak, so breaking his skid and going out on top would be a great way to ride off into the sunset.

Remember that MMAmania.com will deliver LIVE round-by-round, blow-by-blow coverage of the entire UFC 268 fight card right here, starting with the early ESPN+ “Prelims” matches online, which are scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET, then the remaining undercard balance on ESPNEWS/ESPN+ at 8 p.m. ET, before the PPV main card start time at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV.

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