How UFC Fighters Spend Their Downtime: Hobbies and Interests

We are most likely to imagine the other way round about the UFC fighters; tough training and challenging in the Octagon, but everyone must take a break. So, apart from the competing pressures, many of the UFC fighters will have numerous types of hobbies and interests that enable them to balance the demand in career and personal life perfectly. Such pursuits are a welcome break from the brutality of the training session and also expose a different side of these fighters who are so fierce in the ring. The article seeks to find out how some of the UFC’s best fighters get downtime and brings to light a list of their hobbies, passions, and unique interests.

1. Fishing and Outdoor Adventures

Many UFC fighters love to get outdoors in their free time, engaging in activities that include a lot of fishing, hiking, and camping. It’s the opportunity for quiet time, far away from the high-intensity professional life these athletes go through, and provides them time to take things slow and refuel their gas tanks.

Stipe Miocic
The former UFC heavyweight champion is a major fishing aficionado. He picked up the hobby when he was just a young lad in Ohio and has continued to fish whenever he can. Whether that be some local freshwater action in lakes around his area, or some deep sea fishing during his holidays; there’s just something about being out on the water that puts Stipe at peace. For him, it is not just about the catch; it is more about the peace and the escape from the routine of daily life.

Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone
Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone loves nature and, most importantly, loves to do stuff that keeps his adrenalin high. When not up fighting, Cerrone is mostly into such types of extreme sports as wakeboarding, rock climbing, or dirt biking. And he sure cherishes time on his ranch in New Mexico doing some hunting and fishing. His love for the outdoors and various thrashing adventures reflects his daredevil nature both in and out of the Octagon.

2. Music and Performing Arts
   Music forms a huge part in all these lives, though, with many extending careers into that extracurricular universe: playing the instruments, DJ-ing, and even rapping. Through creation and expression, music is a remarkable opposite of the physicality associated with the act of fighting.

Max Holloway
Former UFC featherweight champion, Max Holloway, loves his music and has taken to the other side of life behind the deejay booth with much excitement. He told fans on social media just how much he loved to mix and did deejaying gigs pretty frequently. Besides, he describes deejaying to be like another form of unwinding: getting away from relating to people in a very special way—getting in touch with a whole different side of his personality outside of the Octagon through music.
Tyron Woodley
While some complain about being through with their career after mixed martial arts, Tyron Woodley, the former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion, got serious with music. Rapping on the side, Tyron has released a couple of tracks with their music videos and based on that, run commentaries touching on his life and career, which music has jumbled together in his mind. Music has always given him that chance to think outside the box, show his creativity, and lay bare so much more of his private feelings to the makers than in the world of MMA.

3. Video Games and Streaming

Video gaming is now the fad, even for UFC fighters. Treat it like another battle arena because, just like in the real thing, they enjoy dabbling in virtual venues. Some have even gone further in building on top of this hobby by streaming their playing and their connection with fans online primarily from the Twitch software.

Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson
One of the biggest gaming icons within the MMA community is that of Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson. Johnson adores playing video games, be they “Street Fighter,” “Call of Duty,” or “World of Warcraft.” He has a regular Twitch stream, where he keeps up with his fans and shares love for gaming. This is where he got so deep into video games that he even had an interest in an Esports career after his MMA career.

Sean O’Malley
The other being UFC bantamweight rising star Sean O’Malley, who followed the new craze in video gaming and streaming; oftentimes, O’Malley had streaming footage on Twitch, where he would routinely play games from “Fortnite” to “Call of Duty.” His fans have shown great interest in him not solely because he’s charismatic but also because O’Malley naturally loves to play video games, creating a following so big that hardly any other sports person can relate to fans in that manner.

4. Art and Creative Activities

Although fighting is a physical, brutal business, some UFC fighters are interested in the arts: painting, drawing, or some other kind of creativity. Such hobbies provide therapeutic relief, as well as an ability to express oneself above and beyond the Octagon.

Carlos Condit
Carlos Condit, alias “The Natural Born Killer,” is a former UFC Interim Welterweight Champion, and art, especially drawing and painting, runs deep in his interest. Condit has, as usual, shared a sample of his artwork during interaction with his followers on social media, expressing his creativity and talent. He is said to feel drawing as a form of meditation or getaway—an art where he gets freedom to express thoughts and feelings that do not involve his fighting career.

Julianna Peña
Julianna Peña, the former UFC women’s bantamweight champion, does enjoy creative writing. Peña has spoken highly of how her love for writing is one thing that has often served to enable her to express whatever feelings and experiences in poetry. This is in sharp contrast to the physical boot camp that an MMA career is, while she gains the power of self-expression on another level.

5. Entrepreneurship and Business Ventures

Most of the UFC fighters use the off time they have to get into entrepreneurship; through their brand and fame, they end up initiating or investing in several businesses. Such activities make sure to enlist finances for the fighters and give them opportunities to pursue various personal interests other than just fighting in the Octagon.

Conor McGregor
One of the largest stars to come out of the UFC, beside his lucrative entrepreneurial career since the last outing into the ring, is Conor McGregor. Conor has delved into a number of business operations, including starting his own whiskey brand, Proper No. Twelve. The whiskey has turned into another global business success and consequently puts more wealth and brand to McGregor. In this regard, McGregor has done all to prove he can branch out into other ventures benefiting from his fame and place a legacy beside fighting, among great UFC fighters.

George St-Pierre
Besides being ranked among the best fighters in UFC history, Georges St-Pierre has also expanded his career ventures into business. In addition to his film career in Hollywood, St-Pierre invested in gyms, among numerous other fitness-related businesses and training programs. Being a businessman, of course, coincides with his retirement goal of being busy with the industry post-competition.

6. Activity and Exercise

For many of the UFC fighters, fitness is a necessity at work and one of their passions. In their leisure time, most of them as athletes also have sporting hobbies.

Cain Velasquez
Cain Velasquez was a former Ultimate Fighting Championship Heavyweight Champion with a love for professional wrestling. He re-emerged post-UFC first seen in professional wrestling with WWE, then over in Mexico with AAA. It was his childhood passion for wrestling that actually allowed him to explore a new form of physical competition and entertainment while staying active and connected to the world of combat sports.

Rose Namajunas
Rose Namajunas, former UFC champion of the women’s strawweight category, finds the weight of spreading her newfound passion for yoga and meditation as burdensome. Namajunas uses some yoga in her training regimen not solely to be physically in shape and is fighting fit, but to function as a time to relax and clear her mind. Her passion for yoga and mindfulness reflects the holistic principle in life and martial arts—the balance between mental balance and physical condition.

7. Charitable and Community Engagement

Most of the leisure-time activities of UFC fighters involve giving back to society. In this, they are able to impact and affect change through their statuses.

Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier, a top UFC lightweight contender, is known for his philanthropic efforts through his foundation, The Good Fight Foundation. Poirier and his wife founded the organization in order to support different sorts of charity causes, among them being the building of playgrounds for children, providing backpacks to school children, and even working with veterans. Poirier’s dedication in how he gives back puts him on the pedestal respected inside and outside of the octagon.

Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey, the ex-UFC women’s bantamweight champion, has been noted for her philanthropic activities toward Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services and others in support of mental health awareness and suicide prevention. And that kind of commitment on her part really reflects a desire to be able to make a difference in people’s lives.

Conclusion
UFC fighters are generally cut from a resilient mix of discipline and dedication for their sport, while a completely different personality comes out with indulgence in hobbies, passions, and interests when out of the Octagon. These range from fishing to gaming, music, art, entrepreneurship, charity, or, most importantly, learning and engaging in any hobby possible in a fighter’s endeavor to balance satisfaction, rest, and fulfillment as a route to relaxation, stress relief, and self-expression that would never otherwise provide the opportunity. These hobbies will also serve to help the fighter connect with the fans at a more personal level—seeing that just behind the fierce fighter is a person with diverse likes and interests. These hobbies will also provide a way for these fighters to even further expand their interests and strive to build legacies outside of the ring altogether.