UFC Featherweight veteran Daniel Pineda told reporters that he may retire unless he gets a more lucrative contract. The 38-year-old revealed that his performance bonus-winning victory over Tucker Lutz at the AT&T Center in San Antonio over the weekend was the final fight on his current deal with the UFC, prompting uncertainty over his future.
Daniel “The Pit” Pineda, a Houston native, closed as a sizable betting underdog against Tucker Lutz this past Saturday. Lutz found success with volume in round one, but Pineda was able to drop him with a counter right towards the end of the period.
Pineda was able to ground the fight in round two after a heavy knee to the head against the fence forced Lutz to his knees. From there he secured a guillotine choke which stopped the fight at the 2:50 mark, a victory that ultimately earned him a $50,000 performance bonus at the end of the night.
The 38-year-old told reporters that he felt great after dealing with injuries over the last two years. He also revealed that the bout with Lutz was the last on his current UFC contract and said that retirement is a possibility if he cannot secure a more lucrative deal.
“If the money is right, I’ll keep going. If the money is not that good, I think I’ll probably hang ‘em’ up,” Pineda said. “So it’s up to my manager and them to see how it works man, I think it’s time to make some money. You know I got all these frickin finishes, that was the last fight on my contract so, I need to make some money,” he continued.
When asked if he would be “at peace” with retirement if negotiations don’t go his way, the UFC veteran answered in the affirmative. “Oh fighting at home and finishing this guy like this? F**k yeah, I’m at peace. With my daughter being out there, ya know, last thing I wanna do is get knocked the f**k out with my daughter out there. Ya know she’s two, two-and-a-half, seeing her daddy on TV, it’s one of the best feelings.”
If Daniel Pineda does secure a new deal with the UFC, he urged matchmakers to set him up with a fight in Houston. “I just can’t stand that they haven’t put me in Houston. They have so many frickin cards in Houston and they don’t put me in there, ya know. And that pisses me off,” he said.