MMA is a cruel mistress.
For the vast majority of its athletes, they’ll put years into their pursuit and never get near the level of iconography that the very best do. They’ll give mind and body to become the best martial artists they can, quite often reaching unimaginable heights when the cage door closes.
Then, in a blink, it’s gone.
They retire—or perhaps are retired by a younger, hungrier fighter closing the loop and keeping the sport grinding forward—and are left without the buzz they craved for so long.
No fans.
No fun.
No fights.
For the first time in their lives, they’re just another person in line at the grocery store or stuck in traffic, and it’s a little shocking.
That’s why a fighter needs to have a plan for their exit and for the time afterward. While Conor McGregor shrewdly sets himself up to live it up, there are veterans with GoFundMes looking to pay for some horrible surgery.
But McGregor is not, for once, in a class of his own, at least when it comes to planning life after fighting. Many who have come before him have done remarkable things after competing in MMA and continue to do so.
They’ve created a blueprint for diversifying and leveraging the lessons of the world’s toughest sport into something greater.
Here’s a look at eight such individuals.