Eric Winter joined the UFC in July 2015 to spearhead the promotion’s online digital network. Now, he’s departing the company to spend more time with his family.

Winter announced that today was his last day of work for the industry-leader, thanking UFC executives Dana White and Lorenzo Fertitta and declaring success after an 18-month tenure.

“It is a tough decision to leave a company, but the personal sacrifices I was making commuting away from my family to Las Vegas on a weekly basis proved too challenging for me to overcome,” Winter said in a post on his Facebook page, obtained by MMAjunkie.

Winter, who departed Yahoo Sports to head up UFC Fight Pass, was an active promoter online for all of the digital network’s properties. But he also worked behind the scenes to explain his vision. When UFC fighters complained of getting relegated to the online portion of an event, he spoke with them personally. He kept fans up to date on free weekends and plugged fights.

In the future, Winter said he will still serve as a board advisor to event ticket search engine SeatGeek. But his immediate plans were focused on his daughter Tilly and son Henry.

Winter’s departure comes three months after a series of departures in the UFC’s executive ranks. As previously reported, the promotion’s $4.2 billion sale triggered a series of layoffs as new corporate parent WME-IMG sought to trim costs and maximize profits.

Winter noted WME-IMG “couldn’t have been more professional and understanding” about his departure.

Below is Winter’s full statement:

“Today is an extremely sad (business) day for me as it is my last day working for the UFC. It is a tough decision to leave a company, but the personal sacrifices I was making commuting away from my family to Las Vegas on a weekly basis proved too challenging for me to overcome.

“I cannot thank the executives at UFC enough for working with me on my transition and affording me the opportunity to leave on my own terms. And the WME-IMG leaders couldn’t have been more professional and understanding.

“Dana White called me last night and was as cool as he’s always been to me. He reminded me we’ve known each other since 2002 (DIRECTV, Yahoo Sports & UFC) and would always be there for anything I needed.

“Since my 1st day at UFC to my last, I have been blessed to work with some extremely talented colleagues from all corners of this earth. Together, we were involved with a sport – and organization – that we all loved to its core.

“I will never forget when Dana and Lorenzo Fertitta recruited me from Yahoo Sports to come join UFC to manage its new over-the-top business – UFC FIGHT PASS.

“The three-month period of recruitment was fascinating. It was Lorenzo and Dana – then, the two most powerful figures in combat sports – excitedly talking about their vision for how UFC content was being created and distributed and how they wanted to be far out in front of other content creators when it came to revolutionizing user consumption. Those two were giddy like school kids and it was infectious enough for me to leave Yahoo after an amazing nine-year run.

“As I type this note I feel a sense of sadness for unfinished work, even though in 18 months we blew the roof off the FIGHT PASS business. It is difficult to leave such a fantastic team that works tirelessly 365 days per year. But my colleagues across all business units are insanely brilliant and will no doubt take this company to even greater heights.

“As for what I will do to keep myself busy? I am still a Board Advisor for SeatGeek, the world’s largest event ticket search engine. And I look forward to continually providing guidance to the co-founders and their executives.

“For the rest of this school year, at least, I get to do what I enjoy more than anything: making my kids breakfasts, packing their lunches and taking them to school (oh, and my duties now include picking them up, too).

“Being present for my 4th-grade daughter Tilly and 1st-grade son Henry in person – as opposed to on FaceTime – is more important to me than ANYTHING in the world. And enough cannot be said to my amazing wife Joanna Katz for being the glue that kept our family together during my sojourn with the UFC. Now you get me 365 days per year ha ha.

“Thank you to my friends & family for allowing me to share my UFC journey with you the past year and a half.”

For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.