Dating as a professional mixed martial artist can be a challenge. It’s not just about finding someone who shares your interests or hobbies, but someone who can handle your intense lifestyle. Recently, a resurfaced clip featuring Joe Rogan and WMMA veteran Miriam Nakamoto sheds light on this struggle.
As a professional mixed martial artist, your life revolves around your training, diet, and competitions. This lifestyle can be intense and demanding, leaving little room for a traditional dating life. Finding someone who can understand and support this lifestyle can be a challenge.
Recently, an old clip featuring Miriam Nakamoto discussing her dating experience resurfaced. In the clip, Nakamoto shares how her interest in her boyfriend decreased after watching him lose and become mentally defeated during a bout. The video received half a million views in just one day, highlighting the interest in the challenges of dating as a professional mixed martial artist.
The video is especially interesting as it highlights the hypocrisy from someone who goes against cultural norms – as a woman in a primarily male profession.
Nakamoto, who is fine not being feminine on a daily basis, expected her partner to be masculine even during the most difficult moments competing in MMA.
The video also sheds light on the challenges of dating as a professional mixed martial artist, and the expectations that come with it.
While Nakamoto is okay with enjoying the lifestyle of a mixed martial artist and making money from it, she seems to have trouble reconciling even a single failing from her then boyfriend.
And while the clip might be damning on it’s own the larger context of the podcast episode shines a spotlight on what it really means to be mentally tough and how to not be defeated even when you’re ‘losing’ in both MMA and life.
A multiple-time Muay Thai and kickboxing champion, Nakamoto since announced that Rogan would pay for stem cell treatment on a lesion she has on her meniscus.
Rogan reportedly covered travel expenses and the treatment, which will cost around $30,000, and Nakamoto will fly to Panama for the procedure.
Nakamoto tore her right ACL in 2013, lost the Invicta FC women’s bantamweight title, and has not competed since due to lingering issues with her knees and crippling depression.
In 2016, she was homeless for a week, living with her cat in her truck.
With stem cell treatment, Nakamoto could have a potential comeback bout after dealing with a sprained left LCL and a quarter-sized lesion on her meniscus.
Nakamoto believed that six years after her last bout, she can still be a champion and is motivated to leave the sport on her terms. It’s been several years since and no return has been announced.