Fortis MMA's Sayif Saud is recognized as one of the top coaches in mixed martial arts today. With the help of the rest of the coaching staff, this team has gone on to have a lot of success with Saud receiving justified praise but all of that hard work is catching up with him.
In a recent interview with MMA Junkie, Saud spoke about how his days as a coach might be coming to an end. The Dallas-based mastermind has been cornering UFC fighters for over ten years at this stage and during that timeframe, he has racked up 97 UFC wins under his belt.
The Fortis MMA boss captain has created some great memories alongside fighters like Geoff Neal, Macy Chiasson, Ryan Spann and of course, the man that brought Saud his first UFC title win, Brandon Moreno. With the big 100 being just around the corner, Saud believes that leaving the sport after putting in twenty years makes a lot of sense to him right now.
I always said that 100 UFC wins and I was going to be done,” Saud told MMA Junkie. “One hundred UFC wins, win a title – I would like to win a title back and get it one more time for (Moreno) – but 100 wins and this will be 20 years. Next year will be 20 years. 2005 is when I started. I moved to Albuquerque in 2006, then came to Dallas in 2009, and now in 2025, it will be 20 years in MMA. And it’s been great, man. It’s been an incredible run, but it’s definitely coming towards the end.
“I look forward to being home and kind of spending time with my kids. I don’t really realize how nice it is to be home and just be around my family, be around my kids and be around them and see them and hug them and kiss them. Just be around them more as they’re getting older. I’m getting into a different period in my life. I’m 44 and getting to the next generation of guys, we’re going to hopefully put that 100 up on the board.
Saud hopes that in his absence, the outstanding team will continue to push on without him to keep building the momentum they have accumulated in recent years in particular.
As for when he might wrap things up, the team currently has three big fights on the calendar that are all set to take place before the end of March. Should Diego Ferreira, Chiasson and Spann all get their hands raised in their upcoming outings, Saud could be calling it a year within the first quarter of 2025.