Maggie Grindatti Lira has just announced her retirement from professional grappling competition by leaving her rashguard on the mat at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship. It’s an unique take on a pretty common practice, as many competitors have left their black belts on the mat after competing in a major gi tournament to signify that they will be retiring. This isn’t the first time that she has mentioned retirement though, as Grindatti Lira actually announced that this would be her last tournament during the weeks leading up to it.
It might seem like an unusual choice at first, as Grindatti isn’t a particularly old athlete at all and she’s shown that she can still compete at a high level very recently. She actually won a bronze medal at the IBJJF No Gi Pan Championship and became the inaugural Enyo under 70kg champion earlier this year. It’s been a decent competitive year for Grindatti all around in fact and she’s won medals at smaller events too, taking home the gold at the ADCC Orlando Open most recently.
She only announced her decision to change teams and move to ATOS less than a year ago in fact, and it seemed as though this was working out well for her. Even though Maggie Grindatti Lira signaled her retirement on the mat after losing to eventual champion Elizabeth Mitrovic at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship, she actually revealed this would be her last tournament during the weeks leading up to it. She is currently busy getting her own business of the ground and she has been open about the fact that working on that is eating in to her time training, which then impacts her ability to compete at the highest level.
After leaving her rashguard on the mat at the IBJJF No Gi World Championship 2023, Maggie Grindatti Lira clarified her retirement in a post to her official Instagram account:
