Too bad because we missed out on a potentially great Judoka. But for her on a personal level it was a good career move. She makes more money in a year now than any Judoka would make in their lifetime no?
There are 2 sides to her story. The one side says it was the right decision to ditch her Judo career to chase a UFC belt and get more money (including the WWE). The other side says, she should have continued her Judo career. Quite frankly, I'm with the side where if she did what Kayla Harrison did, she may have achieved better result/s. Kayla wasn't a great Judoka. However, she was successful by staying with the course and being consistent. Look where she is now - 2 Olympic gold medals and a chance to get a UFC belt. Ronda? I don't have to tell you.
Kayla Harrison has a very good chance of becoming UFC champion, but I doubt she'll receive any recognition or promotion from the Judo world as she does it.
Its a hard life. Look at what happened to Satoshi Ishii. He became all-Japan champion, Olympic champion. When he decided to switch to MMA, AJJF went after him and resented his decision. But like Ronda, he knows living in constant movement on an IJF world tour circuit for every 4 years after the Olympics is not what he wants.
But I'll tell you this, if you ask both Olympic champions if they ever regret leaving the sport early, my guess is they'll probably say no.
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u/pickinoutheferns Aug 16 '24
Too bad because we missed out on a potentially great Judoka. But for her on a personal level it was a good career move. She makes more money in a year now than any Judoka would make in their lifetime no?