Following a fourth round defeat to Julia Budd for the Bellator featherweight title at Bellator 174 last Friday, former Strikeforce bantamweight champion Marloes Coenen announced her retirement from the sport.

The mixed martial artist has had an illustrious career with a 23-8 record spanning across Invicta FC, Dream, Strikeforce, Bellator and more. In an interview with Sherdog, “Rumina” provided some parting words in hopes of cementing her legacy in the sport.

Weeping through her final thoughts as a professional, the veteran provided a few tear stained words on her retirement.

“I have been over trained for many years, for more than a decade. It has been a very long road. A lot of things have happened, physically…mentally. I often was in the cage, feeling really sick. I never showed. I’ve seen every doctor in the world, sort of speech. I found out that I have been over trained for more than a decade. It’s not like normal over training, where you sweat in the night. I had attacks. Every time that I would step into the cage, I was afraid I would get an attack. This time, after over training, after changing training camps, I could go for the five times five minutes again. I felt so confident, I wanted to go out with a bang.”

Still streaming tears, the decorated veteran provided an ounce of wisdom for current competitors.

“If there is one message that I want to give out to all the fighters that are still fighting is please listen to your body. Listen to your intuition. Find people around you that respect you for who you are, that don’t push you over your limits. I am very proud to see what all the women in MMA.”

For Coenen’s full speech, see the video above.