Olivier Aubin-Mercier seems like he really is done with MMA.
This past Friday at the 2023 PFL Championships in Washington D.C., Aubin-Mercier won his second straight lightweight title in the organization, capturing a unanimous decision over Clay Collard to take home his second PFL title and the $1 million check that goes with it. In the aftermath, Aubin-Mercier said he intends to take a break from MMA, and speaking on Monday’s episode of The MMA Hour, that break appears as if it may be indefinite.
“The last few days were pretty emotional … I think because it may be the end,” Aubin-Mercier said. “The strange thing, for sure I wanted to end my career on a good note, but truly, I didn’t feel anything when I won. I didn’t feel anything about the sport. But I was really emotional about seeing my family and seeing the people I love, and I think that’s a good sign that it may be the end. It may be time to stop it, because it’s not normal that you don’t feel anything when you win one of the biggest fights of your career.
“I didn’t care,” Aubin-Mercier continued. “I was just looking forward to see the people that I love. People were like, ‘You should be happy, you just won $1 million!’ That’s true. I just won $1 million. All day I fought, I didn’t think about the million, I didn’t think about anything but to finish my career on a good note, and I think it showed. I think this is the end. I know you don’t believe me, but I really do think that if I don’t start the fire again inside me, it won’t happen. I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to fight again if I don’t have this fire.”
Aubin-Mercier joined the PFL in 2021 after suffering a three-fight losing skid in the UFC, and after a first year in the promotion marred by injury, “The Canadian Gangster” rebounded by winning the 2022 lightweight season. That was such a big win for him that Aubin-Mercier revealed he wasn’t even planning to return for the 2023 season, but got cajoled into it.
“It hit me last year,” Aubin-Mercier explained. “Last year I was like, ‘F***, I don’t know if I want to stop now.’ Then they called me, ‘We have a good fight for you. We have Shane Burgos.’ I was like, f***. OK, let’s do this one and we’re going to see.
“There was no motivation. There was no motivation all year. I was there every single day at training. I didn’t want to do it but I was there, I did my homework. I didn’t miss a day and I was smart about my training, but the motivation was not there. I didn’t want to go every day to training, I wanted to stay at home. But we are athletes, we have to find something. It was my goal. All my life was about fighting and I knew it was my last year, so I said to myself, ‘You’re going to push until the end and you’re going to go 100 percent even though you don’t like it anymore, go 120 percent,’ and that’s what I did.”
Despite his lack of motivation, Aubin-Mercier has arguably never looked better in his career. Currently on a 10-fight winning streak, the PFL champ was dominant in 2023, taking a clean sweep of Shane Burgos on the judges’ scorecards before recording knockout wins over Anthony Romero and Bruno Miranda to punch his way to the finals, where he dominated Collard. Even so, Aubin-Mercier is pretty adamant that this retirement is going to stick.
“Right now I don’t know, but it doesn’t feel like it,” Aubin-Mercier said when asked if he just needed some time off. “I feel like I want to be on vacation for a long time and maybe have other projects. But we’re going to see. Maybe in a year I’m going to do a GSP [Georges St-Pierre] on myself. The thing is, GSP was able to do it perfectly, but not a lot of fighters are able to come back after a year or two off. It’s pretty dangerous for MMA fighters to come back after that. So I’m going to see. I think I’m smart with those decisions. I know when it’s time, when it’s not time. And personally, I do feel this is the end.”
Like his countryman, St-Pierre once famously took an extended leave of absence from MMA due to waning personal interest in competing, only to return to the cage several years later and capture a second UFC title. Aubin-Mercier does not foresee that being the case with him, but he did outline one scenario that could get him back into the PFL SmartCage.
“Not all the doors are closed,” Aubin-Mercier said. “If PFL gives me the opportunity maybe to do one last fight in Quebec, money is good, friends of mine are on the show — because I don’t just want it to be about me. I want it to be about other Canadian athletes too. So if that is offered, maybe I’ll think about it. But for sure, if this is the end, I’ll be a little sad that I didn’t fight one last time in Montreal. But this is life. It’s not always your way.”
And if that offer never comes, Aubin-Mercier is content, saying that if this is the end, he’s most proud of what he was able to accomplish over the past three years in the PFL.
“The two belts and the last eight fights,” Aubin-Mercier said when asked for his career highlight. “Yeah, I’m 10-0 in PFL, but it’s really the eight fights in two years that’s freaking insane. … You can be a UFC champion and you can be a PFL champion, but it doesn’t mean that you can be the other one. A PFL champion cannot necessarily be a UFC champion and a UFC champion cannot necessarily be a PFL champion, because it’s so different. The challenges are so different. I’m really proud of that.”