UFC bantamweight Gina Mazany told herself she wouldn’t do it. No matter what happened, no matter who she met or how sick of being single she might happen to get, she wasn’t going to date a fellow fighter.



“Now a few years later, here I am,” Mazany said with a wry chuckle. “So you can see how that went.”



You can also see how it happens. The fighting life is often one of obsessive focus. You spend much of your days in gyms, hammering your body into a blunt-force weapon. Then you spend your evenings recovering from that process, trying to get the energy up to do it again tomorrow. You have to watch your diet and your weight, which means after-work dates filled with drinks and dinner usually don’t work. If you do meet a regular person with a regular job, then you have to explain to them why you need to spend tonight covered in ice packs rather than lavishing them with affection. You also need to hope that they’ll understand...