Kayla Harrison no to mma,"not cut out for a world where you get fights based on how pretty you are"

Pacemaker Joe said:
I'd be pretty surprised if she can't make 155, and Julie Kedzie (one of Invicta's matchmakers) has said she can fight at LW there if she wants. I'd be shocked if she could make 135, and really don't want to see her try.
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She competes at around 170 in judo, and I'm pretty sure she cuts a bit to get there. But it might be possible, though she might have to lean out a bit.
 
BabyBlue_Bomber said:
She competes at around 170 in judo, and I'm pretty sure she cuts a bit to get there. But it might be possible, though she might have to lean out a bit.
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She has plenty of excess weight to lose by the looks of it.
 
BabyBlue_Bomber said:
She competes at around 170 in judo, and I'm pretty sure she cuts a bit to get there. But it might be possible, though she might have to lean out a bit.
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She says she doesn't, but even if 172 is her walk around weight and she's lean, 145 would be a really big ask, and she shouldn't even consider 135. Although given what she's said a few days ago, it might be another reason she'd stay away from MMA, regardless of what weight class was available.

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/break-conversation-judo-champion-kayla-harrison/story?id=41200489

AG: You opted to compete in a higher weight class.

KH: I think growing up, especially for young girls in judo or in weight-cutting sports, it's really difficult. You're told the lighter you are, the better you'll fight.

AG: But you don't agree with that.

KH: No I don't. When I teach clinics, when I talk to young girls anywhere, I tell them, "Look, I don't cut weight anymore. I eat like 6,000 calories a day. What I truly believe is that if you're going to win, you'll win at whatever weight you fight." I always preach that strong is beautiful, strong is powerful and you shouldn't change your body for sport, for society, for anything.
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Kind of ironic comng from her considering nobody would be talking about her if it wasn't for Ronda/MMA.No one would know her name or be paying attention to judo. And there isnt a single article about her that doesnt include the name Ronda or MMA. Hope she enjoys her short lived 15.
 
Trifick said:
Kind of ironic comng from her considering nobody would be talking about her if it wasn't for Ronda/MMA.No one would know her name or be paying attention to judo. And there isnt a single article about her that doesnt include the name Ronda or MMA. Hope she enjoys her short lived 15.
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They might not be talking about her as much, but if you don't think people would be talking about well spoken and charismatic 2 time gold medalist, you're delusional.

Also, you're wrong.
http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/break-conversation-judo-champion-kayla-harrison/story?id=41200489

Never mentions Ronda, MMA, or the UFC.
 
Hi-Tech said:
It's prizefighting. It will always be this way.

Boxing is the more established historic sport and it has been like this too since forever. Big draws dictate the terms of the fights. This will never change.

Boxing and MMA are sports where you only need two interesting fighters to sell a PPV. Or in some cases even only one star fighter smashing unknowns is good enough (Mike Tyson or Ronda Rousey if you want an WMMA example). That's why the entire game will revolve around these fighters (the big draws) because they bring the money in while the rest doesn't. The fighters understand this, the promoters understand this and most fans understand this too.
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Even boxing has guys like canelo,de la hoya,and mayweather getting extra sales based on their good looks.
 
Pacemaker Joe said:
They might not be talking about her as much, but if you don't think people would be talking about well spoken and charismatic 2 time gold medalist, you're delusional.
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She is a better athlete than Ronda but just wasn't at the right place at the right time (ie. under the right circumstances). In an openweight MMA fight she probably beats her right now.
 
Jesus X said:
Even boxing has guys like canelo,de la hoya,and mayweather getting extra sales based on their good looks.
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Whether it's good looks, charisma, trash talking, the aura of being unbeaten or exciting style, you have to have something special to be a draw. It's just the way that this world works. I actually like it because I don't like boring personalities that most star athletes in the other sports have.
 
Imagine being a 2x Olympic gold medalist, one of the most respected athletes in your sport and suddenly having to deal with Dana White constantly trying to throw you under the bus and fighters you've never met trying to lure you into insult battles on twitter.
 
Trifick said:
Kind of ironic comng from her considering nobody would be talking about her if it wasn't for Ronda/MMA.No one would know her name or be paying attention to judo. And there isnt a single article about her that doesnt include the name Ronda or MMA. Hope she enjoys her short lived 15.
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She's the first American, ever, to win a judo gold. Not just women but ever. Her 15 is going to last forever.

Giver her a few years of post Olympic living when the checks stop rolling in and the idea of smashing someone in under a minute for 50k sounds better and better. But she's wrong about one thing - being pretty will indeed get you fights, but it's not the sole factor. The sole factor is winning. If you can't be stopped, it doesn't matter how pretty you are or how bad you are on the mic (see Zingano, Cat).

Some judoka get paid too well to bother making the switch (I believe Riner gets a fuckload of cash from his government) and I suspect quite a few of them don't want to start all over again with a striking art. But if we're really getting into it, I think the real reason is that, like most fighters currently on the roster, a vast majority don't have the stomach for tireless self promotion and the circus life of being ridiculously famous. Living life under the microscope breaks people.
 
Fedor Machida said:
she's cute and is considered attractive for an MMA fighter.
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Definitely, I think she's pretty attractive but you never know if it's the fact that she's a brutal fighter giving her extra points.
 
Shes not entirely wrong. But on the other hand. Which other female based sport has hit main stage as much as WMMA does now? Tennis? But they did it there too. I'm sure there's other sports I forgot about. This is a thing in many sports.

I do agree it gets shitty when you gain fights based on your looks though.
 
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