Retirement often doesn’t come easy to professional mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes… But why is it so?
And why do some athletes move on to “the next thing” seemingly easy, while others suffer and never really get back on track with their lives?
Ben Askren shared his opinion in a recent Dad Saves America interview. In part, it’s got to do with the structure the athletes have been used to following:
[With] athletes, you have this relatively singular focus, you have dates on the calendar, and it’s easy. You train for this date, you get this date, and then you’re done with that – and then you get the next date, maybe a little bit of time off…
It’s very structured.So then they get done with their careers and then they say: “What do I do now?” You know, there’s no one telling them: “Hey, on November 18 you gotta be here, you’re doing this thing”, you know?
Askren explains that it’s also got to do with the opportunities that the athletes are now presented with:
And another thing with the real world is that I think is, kinda… You almost can drown in opportunity ’cause you’re, like: “Well, I can do this, and I can do this, and I can do that…”
And then, like, sometimes you’re drawn to all those things, so you spend a little bit of energy on all of them; but then your efforts are split five ways.
And now, obviously, if your efforts are split five ways, you’re not gonna be good at it.You’re all over the place!
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