Regroup

It’s a new year, with my daughter engaged and living elsewhere.  Note to parents: Nothing like moving the kid out of the house in December snow.  About the only thing better is moving her into her apartment, on the second floor.

Of course, none of that stopped Clare from calling yesterday; we will probably talk about sports from now ’til kingdom come.  “Did you hear about [UFC former champion] Ronda Rousey?”  She lost in like a minute.”

Actually, it took all of 48 seconds for the onetime darling of the martial arts’ circuit to be declared out on her feet after absorbing 27 (!) punches from UFC bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes.  Rousey hadn’t fought since losing the title in a second-round knockout to Holly Holm in late 2015.  Ostensibly, she’d been training for this fight for months.  If so, she either did a whole bunch wrong or walked into a human buzz saw.

But my guess is that Rousey is at war with herself.  Two humiliating defeats in a row could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.  If her subconscious is talking, Rousey needs to listen and call it a career.  What she does for a living will kill her, as it basically does all fighters.

Joe DiMaggio spent decades after his baseball career ended looking more like a movie star than an ex-jock.  Hank Aaron looks good in this his 82^nd year, and even the occasional old football player like Dick Butkus or Mike Ditka does as well.  But name me a fighter who ages gracefully.  Joe Frazier?  Muhammad Ali?  Joe Louis?  Jack Dempsey?  Mike Tyson?  Adonais does not dare wear boxing trunks.

The ring—or cage, and think about the symbolism inherent in that word—is just as unforgiving as the street and alley.  I understand why Victorians and their heirs have wanted to outlaw the sport.  But fighting would go on, worse even for being forced underground.  So, the “sweet science” will go on claiming victims.  Ronda Rousey needs to think long and hard about her future, while she still can.