Trading Shots: Why doesn't Nick Diaz recommend becoming a fighter?

In this week’s Trading Shots, MMAjunkie columnist Ben Fowlkes and retired UFC/WEC fighter Danny Downes discuss recent comments by Nick Diaz about some of the unappealing aspects of the fighter’s life, and try to figure out just what’s going on upstairs with one of MMA’s most fascinating figures.

Fowlkes: Danny, this week I’d like to start us off with a quote from the philosopher Nicholas Robert Diaz, who said this week, “I don’t recommend anybody be a fighter.”

I have two questions for you about this:

1) Why do you think Diaz, who has made a good living at this and who genuinely seems to enjoy at least the act of training in the martial arts, is so against it as a profession? I mean, he’s the guy who got his younger brother into this life. Now he’s telling us he wouldn’t recommend it for anyone else?

2) As someone who’s experienced it, do you agree with that statement from Diaz? Is fighting professionally something you’d recommend to interested parties, or would they be better off doing something else with their time and brain cells?

Downes: Oh, so I’m supposed to clearly and concisely lay out the philosophical musings of Nick Diaz? Why don’t you ask me to do something harder next time.

As for your first question, Diaz has never had positive things to say about the life of a fighter. He’s called it crooked and a whole host of other things throughout his career. I think a lot of it stems from the fact that he feels that he’s been under-compensated. He’s been fighting professionally since 2001, and doesn’t have that GSP lifestyle. You know, the one with dudes pampering your (stuff) every hour on the hour. The life of a fighter has taken its toll on him mentally and physically and he’s probably looking back on it and wondering, “Was it worth it?”

It doesn’t matter what your profession is, we all suffer from a “grass is always greener” perspective. We focus too much on the aspects of our job that suck and think that there’s something better out there. Why don’t we leave? There are a bunch of emotional and economic reasons. Where else is a 31-year-old Nick Diaz going to get UFC level money outside of fighting? Unless he has some mechanical engineering degree that I don’t know about, he realizes that he’s in too deep to switch career paths. It may be too late for him, but he’s hoping he can convince younger fighters to avoid his perceived mistake.

I don’t think it’s strange at all for him to caution people against a career in fighting. When I stopped fighting and talked to other journalists about a career in writing, I’d say over half of them told me not to bother. Even this guy Ben Fowlkes, described by many of his colleagues as someone “who has made a good living at this and genuinely seems to enjoy at least the act of (writing),” cautioned against the life of a writer. My dad is on the Chicago Police Department, loves his job and he always told me growing up that I should never become a police officer.

What about you, Ben? Would you recommend the life of a professional fighter? How is Diaz’s warning any different from you telling aspiring writers to get a “real” degree?

Fowlkes: OK, I just went and looked up the email where you asked me whether I’d recommend MMA writer as a career path. For the record, the first sentence of my response was: “Personally, I love the gig.” I then went on to eloquently explain why and how you should totally go for it. So in other words, check your (email archives) before you wreck your (already tattered credibility).

But fine, you do make a valid point about jobs in general. Whenever you have one, even if it’s a really good one, you become intimately acquainted with all the ways that it totally sucks. It’s only the jobs you have no knowledge of that seem absolutely perfect.

As for whether I’d recommend pro fighting as a career choice, I’d have to say no. Partly that’s the pessimist in me. If you’re not going to be one of the two or three best people in the world at your weight class (and Pessimist Ben assumes that you are not), it’s probably a bad deal. You don’t make a bunch of money, your window of opportunity to make what money you can is incredibly small, and there are far more ways for things to go wrong than there are for them to go right. When I talk to fighters in their mid 30s to early 40s, I almost always hear tales of physical woe, from Forrest Griffin saying he can barely jump to Rich Clementi saying he can barely bend over.

But then, nobody becomes a fighter because they’re giving all that much thought to tomorrow. They’re also probably not thinking about 401(k)s or dental plans or any of that other stuff. They’re after glory. They’re chasing a certain intensity of feeling, and it seems to me like that’s the part they dread doing without.

Actually, I have been asked several times, usually by dudes at jiu-jitsu who also do MMA, whether I’d recommend trying to make a go of it as a pro. I pretty much always tell them no, mostly because I think that if your desire to do this is weak enough that all it takes to talk you out of it is a discouraging word from someone like me, then you won’t last long anyway. I guess what I’m saying is, the people who should do this are the people who can’t not do it. And really, isn’t Diaz exactly that sort of person?

Downes: While you may not have said the words, “Don’t write for a living,” I do have many emails where you decry the state of MMA media, the methods used to drive content, and many other facets. Perhaps in another conversation we can discuss the difference between the terms explicit and implicit. Needless to say, I don’t think a reveal of the “Downes/Fowlkes Email Chain” will be as explosive as the Pentagon Papers.

You are right on a few other points, though. The key to making the jump to professional fighting is about being short-sighted. You can’t worry about long-term problems or commitments. It’s a “now” focused mindset that’s a double-edged sword. Look at Donald Cerrone. His impulse-driven attitude has led him to monetary and other successes. Is that the type of mentality that ultimately leads to you having a nest egg and enjoying early bird dinners into your 80s? Probably not, but that’s not everyone’s goal.

Pete Townshend famously wrote, “I hope I die before I get old,” and that’s the attitude that many MMA fighters have. They’re impulse driven and don’t care about pedestrian things like mutual funds and mortgages. Then a funny thing happens – they get old. They realize that old age is a better option than dying, but not until all their contemporaries have gotten a head start on them. Many fighters delay starting a family or getting an education to pursue a career in MMA. Once the cage fighting ends, they see all the things they’ve missed out on having. Everything has a cost, and as you look back on your career you wonder, “Was it worth it?”

Nick Diaz knows that he doesn’t have a ton of fights left in him. He’s 31 years old, and while that may be good, considering life expectancy in the United States, it’s not great for an MMA fighter. He sees the end is (relatively) near and wonders if he should have done something else. You walk into any gym in the country and you’ll hear fighters say something to the extent of, “I should have just gotten a normal job” at least once a week. As I’ve learned in my post-fight career, even “normal” jobs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, but a fighter’s arrogance leads them to believe they’re easy.

I’ve always hated people that said things like, “I have no regrets in my life.” Yes, we’re all the sum of our individual experiences and we wouldn’t be the person we are today if it weren’t for them and blah, blah, blah. You’re really telling me that you have no regrets? There’s not one thing you’ve done in your life that you wish you could take back? Nick Diaz is looking back on his career and life choices and it sounds like he has some regrets. Do you blame him?

Fowlkes: I wouldn’t blame anyone for having regrets in life. Like you, I think that’s a normal part of being human, and I doubt people who claim not to have any.

You’re not the first ex-fighter I’ve polled on this topic who mentioned the feeling of being locked out of other, more common paths by virtue of choosing this one. It reminds me of a term coined in this excellent and hilarious book of essays and cartoons by Tim Kreider, who refers to this period of evaluation and comparison as “The Referendum.” It’s when you start looking at how your life stacks up against the lives of your friends and acquaintances, and also looking at which potential lives are unavailable to you now that you’ve made enough choices in life to have permanently closed some other doors.

People seem to have different ways of handling The Referendum. Some get overly judgy of other people’s choices, as if that will justify their own. Some get envious. Most people waver somewhere in the middle, I think. I can see how Diaz might be wishing he didn’t have to commit and endure tremendous acts of violence in order to make a living, but I also hope he realizes that a) he didn’t wind up there on accident, and b) he still has it better than most fighters.

And oh, by the way? Pete Townshend is currently 69 years old. I bet it’s not as bad as he thought it would be.

Downes: Well Ben, it’s finally time where I get around to answering the second question you posed when we started. Would I recommend a career in professional fighting?

The answer is … probably. Now, that answer could change depending on what day you ask me. It feels like I conduct a referendum of my own almost weekly with regards to my mixed martial arts career. To tell you the truth, I still haven’t figured out if it really was worth it. I know that the internet commenters of the world will be tripping over themselves to say, “Of course it wasn’t! U sucked at fighting!” but I would call those attempts myopic at best.

Would I feel more positively about my MMA career if I had a greater degree of success? Maybe, maybe not. Nick Diaz has had tremendous success and he’s not happy. Ask Kyle Kingsbury how he feels about his MMA accomplishments. I would assume he wishes he did more, too. Every choice in life has opportunity costs. By choosing to do one thing, you can’t do another. One cannot have cake and eat it, too. There are a lot of reasons to avoid a professional fighting career. The cons far outweigh the pros. Nick Diaz may be on to something when he tells aspiring fighters to stop now. If his words can convince you to quit, though, you probably weren’t cut out for it anyway.