Why 135 is a good number

For some people, success is like farts - they are bothered if it is from anyone other than themselves.

I'm old enough to have long since given up hope of convincing ignorant people through reasoned argument.

However, since I'm taking a ten minute break from improving my PHP reporting scripts, I'll give you my take on the whole Ronda should fight at 145 pounds/ in the men's division/ wrestle a gorilla or whatever stupid idea someone has.

No. Ronda should not go up in weight.  Why should she?

Because she used to compete at a higher weight 7 years ago in the Olympics?

Anyone who says this clearly does not know the difference between judo competition and the UFC.

In judo, you weigh in the morning of the event and fight several matches over the course of what can be a 14 hour day or more. You have to hit that weight several times a year, often for three or four weekends in a row. 

In the UFC, you weigh in more than 24 hours before the match. You fight one match that lasts at most 25 minutes. You have to hit the weight at most three or four times a year and always at least two months apart.

If you cannot compare the two and understand that given the difference, the lightest weight a person could make would be substantially lower in the second situation, then you have never competed in a sport with weight divisions.

She needs to prove that she is not afraid of anyone.

She has won Olympic and world medals in judo, and world title belts in two different promotions in mixed martial arts. She has set a record for fastest win in a title defense and long before this she won the finals of the junior world judo championships in 4 seconds. No matter who she beats and what she does, it will not be enough for some people.

After I won the world championships, Steve Seck, one of my teammates and a member of the Olympic team gave me sound advice, when I was criticized for deciding to pursue a Ph.D. rather than an Olympic medal.

Fight when you feel it is right for you, and when it isn't, then stop. It doesn't matter what anyone else says. Those same people who are criticizing you now, saying, "Yes, you won the world championships, but could you win the Olympics?" If you went out and won the Olympics, they would be saying, "Yeah, but could you do it again?"

She does not need to prove anything to you. She's never even met you. There are people who cannot stand that Ronda is successful and want to see her fail. They don't care if she gets beaten by a man, a person twice her size or a bear. They just cannot stand that someone else is successful and they are not.

Tomorrow morning, Ronda will wake up and she'll be herself and those people will be them. That's karma.

It's the fight the fans want to see. It is her responsibility to make it happen.

That is two different points, but I'll address both. Lots of fans either don't care if Ronda goes up in weight or would rather she fought whoever their own particular favorite fighter is. There are very anti-steroid people who think anyone who fails a drug test should be out for life.

It sounds nice to say give the customers what they want. I'm reminded of Dilbert's response when the pointy-haired both said that to him.

What our customers want is better products for free.

I really want to know why it is ONLY Ronda's responsibility to make it happen.

I do a lot of work in North Dakota where schools sometimes play football with eight players on a team, because they don't have enough players to make a full 11-man team.

Let's say we have a team blowing away all of the other teams. Those players then go on to be on a Division I championship team.

Another team (let's say it was suspended for cheating a few years ago and then dropped out of Division I when they started random out of competition drug testing), is now the Division III champion. They come up and say the other team should drop three of their players and play 8 men against their 11. Are those 8 men afraid of going against the 11-man team? Hey, they played 8-man football in high school, they should do it now.

I don't believe in special rules for special people.

Here is what really pisses me off. Seriously, if you want to fight someone who has a world title, you establish yourself as a contender and fight them. You make the same weight. You subject yourself to random out-of-competition drug testing. You are under the same rules as everyone else.

 You don't ask people to make up a special division just for you. You don't ask out of your contract the same week the organization announces out of competition testing, go to compete in a promotion that doesn't have the same budget for drug testing and then come in through the back door. You don't claim that making the weight for a title fight will kill you but five pounds more you'll be the picture of health.

You don't say that everyone else in the world has to make weight, but not me. It would be too hard for me.

This whole thing is stupid.

I'm going back to my day job which is making games that make you smarter.

You can click here to get one for yourself for fun, gift one to a friend - or just a stupid person who really needs it.