COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – After beating Max Griffin at UFC on ESPN+ 2 earlier this year, 35-year-old veteran Thiago Alves set a deadline for his retirement from MMA.

“100 percent by 37 I don’t want to be fighting anymore,” Alves said at the time. “We got two more years of war.”

Just because he’s leaving MMA, though, it doesn’t mean the former UFC title challenger will be leaving the line of fire.

Alves (23-13 MMA, 15-10 UFC) is currently booked to meet Laureano Staropoli (14-6 MMA, 2-4 UFC) in yet another home country battle, at UFC 237 in Rio de Janeiro, in one of the two bouts he has left on his UFC contract. And “Pitbull” guarantees that, deadline aside, he’s determined to make whatever time he has left in this sport count.

Regardless of what happens in terms of wins or losses, though, Alves says that won’t affect his retirement plans. After dedicating more than half of his life to fighting, Alves is not planning on sticking around much longer and has already begun to devise his exit plan.

Part of it is somewhat predictable when it comes to MMA veterans; “Pitbull” already shares his knowledge of the sport as a coach at American Top Team and intends to keep doing that. He also plans on opening his own branch of the famed team.

But he’s also ready to pursue another line of work entirely.

“My first passion besides fighting was law enforcement,” Alves told MMA Junkie. “So I’m ready to go in that route.”

Alves, a former UFC title challenger, said he’s already developed a training system for law enforcement officers and has, along with fellow ATT coaches, administered classes to that end. But that won’t be the full the extent of his involvement, as Alves plans to become a full-on police officer.

“It’s a mission about going out there and helping the community and fighting evil in a way, you know?” Alves said. “The mentality that you have growing up toward law enforcement in Brazil, it’s very different than over here. In Brazil, they’re seen as heroes. I know there’s a bad apple everywhere in the game, but you don’t get the same benefits as you get here in America. Not even the salary, the lifestyle.

“You really want to be a police officer in Brazil because you want to fight crime, you want to do better. You want to fix the country in any way you can. And that’s the kind of mentality I have, to be able to give back to this country that did amazing things for me and my family. The next goal, it kind of excites me, to be able to be a part of something like this and build career outside of that.”

“Pitbull” realizes the amount of hard work that goes into that transition, but he says he’s excited for it. “I’m always craving the adrenaline,” he says, and, well, that’s one way of getting it. Besides, the welterweight believes he’ll be able to transfer some of the skills he’s picked up on in his almost 20 years of fighting.

“I think a lot of the discipline that we carry throughout MMA, throughout being a professional fighter, I’ll be able to carry that discipline toward this new chapter of my life,” Alves said. “I’m excited, but I’m not done yet.”

The next of Alves’ final MMA steps takes place on May 11, at Jeunesse Arena, in what will be – rather surprisingly – the Fortaleza native’s first ever visit to Rio de Janeiro. And after a successful homecoming in his last outing, he’s hoping to finish out his career in his native country.

“It will be nice if I can get all my fights in Brazil,” Alves said. “I’ve been here in America for about 16 years now, and I think I had two fights in Brazil since I moved here. So it’s kind of a change of pace a little bit. I was always fighting either here in America or overseas somewhere, maybe to finish my career in Brazil would be pretty cool.”

To hear more from Alves, check out the video above.

And for more on UFC 237, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.