Becoming part of the MMA world can be difficult. Years of practice, dedication, and commitment can go down the drain if the athlete isn’t appealing to the audience. Much like with any other sport not everyone gets to be a crowd favourite, and after their MMA career ends there is not much they can look forward to. Except it’s a bit different here compared to some other sports, because after you become a professional MMA fighter, it is hard just to leave it all behind and do something else with your life.
Fighters are not exactly living in the lap of luxury from MMA earnings, and they can even end their career prematurely as a result of serious injury. Luckily, that is not always the case and here we will go over some of the ex-MMA fighters who built a lucrative career once they got out of the fighting cage.
Randy Couture
Throughout his career, Randy stood out as a very charismatic fighter. This proved to be a key for pivoting from a ring to the entertainment industry, more specifically Hollywood. Even though he does not have a diverse range of roles under his belt, he is still very good at playing a tough guy.
Even during his career, he was not afraid to speak up and be the face of the cause. Randy was very vocal about the position of MMA fighters and wanted to unionize them in order to secure a better future for his colleagues. There is clearly a lot of passion for this sport and it is in everyone’s best interest to keep the fire burning.
Brendan Schaub
Schaub did have an admirable UFC career before he retired at the age of 31. But even as a mediocre fighter he kept going and now has a well-established career. He is a co-host of a popular podcast and has good analytical skills when it comes to UFC. He even likes to put a bet or two, when he wants to back up his claims on who will win.
This is not really uncommon among the retired fighters, as they have a good grasp of how to analyze the competitors. So, every now and again they want to put that knowledge to good use and gamble a bit with their predictions at Canadian real money casinos, or similar platforms. Just like the rest of us, ex-MMA fighters like to play everything from slots and roulette to poker and blackjack. In addition to betting, Brendan shows up on a talk show and offers his perspective on highly hyped fights.
Gina Carano
Gina is probably one of the best known female faces of MMA, and she has contributed to making the sport more popular among women. She had an impressive record during her fighting days, but her popularity also allowed her to choose a different career path, the one of an actress. Today, she stars in the popular Star Wars spin-off show The Mandalorian, and she received some heat from the fans due to her political views. Gina is also known for dating Henry Cavil for a while, who played Superman and is now playing Geralt in Netflix’s Witcher series.
Brian Stann
Brian is praised for both his MMA career and for being one of the most entertaining broadcasters of the sport. He even used his fame to help those less fortunate by starting a non-profit organization and he also wrote a book. He is probably the best example of how MMA is just a beginning in one’s career, and he is an inspiration for many colleague fighters.
Conclusion
As you can see it’s never too late to pursue a different path and to use every life-experience as a lesson. Everything you learn has some sort of value and you can always share that with the rest of the world. This is one of the ways to have a fulfilling life, regardless of whether your initial career path was successful or not.