Dan Severn, a former two-time All-American at Arizona State and the original Sunkist Kid, announced his professional retirement from mixed martial arts yesterday. Severn is a 13-time AAU wrestling champion and three-time Olympic wrestling alternate, inducted into the Arizona State University Wrestling Hall of Fame. Severn made his MMA debut at UFC 4 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, back in 1994, at 36-years old, winning his first two tournament matches before losing to fellow Hall-of-Famer Royce Graice (via triangle choke) in the finals. Severn returned the next year and won UFC 5, defeating the legendary Oleg Taktarov in the semi-finals before besting Canadian Dave Beneteau in the finals. Severn won UFC 7.5 (Ultimate Ultimate 1995) later that year, this time running through Tank Abbott on his way to defeating Taktarov again in the finals. Since then the Coldwater, Michigan native has competed in over a hundred more professional MMA bouts over nearly two decades, making him one of the most prolific fighters in the history of the sport. Along the way he's been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame as well as the Legends Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame. In November of 2012 Severn expressed his desire to retire following a rematch with old nemesis Royce Gracie or former UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia, but has opted to retire as of yesterday with both of those bouts looking unlikely to come to fruition. Severn has recently been in the MMA news cycle for promoting the induction of his longtime friend Jeff Blatnick, recently deceased, into the UFC's Hall of Fame.
