When I discovered mixed martial arts (MMA), a secret talent was revealed. I had no idea I would fall in love with martial arts…or that physical fight analysis would lead to verbal fight analysis.
“Rare Woman in a Young Man’s Sport”
That’s what it says under the image of me wearing a red bandana on the cover of Yahoo! Sports. I was featured in a video documenting a “day in the life of a woman over 50 years of age doing mixed martial arts (MMA)…with young dudes.
This happened in the middle of April 2011.
Crazy times! Those were early days for women doing jiu-jitsu or MMA. I helped break ground by being literally thrown to the ground. Lol!
Physical to Verbal Fight Training
Basically, I just kept showing up to train. And, one day, it clicked! I started seeing the patterns from my fights on the mat showing up in conversations in the same way. How interesting!
This was the genesis of DramaGuru Revelation and Demon Spotting. Around that time, I started making notes, choosing the code words and designing two decks of cards. I remember sharing my ideas with my jiu-jitsu coach, Kenny Florian. He said, “I don’t get it.”
We laughed, and I said, “I’ll make it a comic book, so you can understand it better.”
Since, I can’t draw, I thought I was just being funny. But years later, I’ve created comics using photography and special filters.
The comic format helps to abbreviate my explanations and storytelling because as you may have already guessed, I can talk a lot about my favorite topic. I strive to be efficient and effective to get the point across quickly.
On a personal note: Listening to my bootleg copy of the Yahoo! original, all these years later, I hear the scratchy, huskiness in my voice…and I remember feeling so uncomfortable with the amount of attention I was getting. An entire film crew showed up! I was like, “Whoa! What’s happening right now? Where is this going?“
During that magical time, I felt a deep connection to the MMA community of trainers and fighters. I met several UFC fighters whenever they came to Florian Martial Arts to train.
Florian Martial Arts
From 2007, when I started training in boxing, to 2008, when I started training with UFC FIGHTER, KENNY FLORIAN, and his brother, KEITH FLORIAN, a positive and magnetic field of favor bloomed around me. I felt supported, guided and protected. In 2009, I started blogging on a personal blog called, “That Girl is Funny”.
Combining the skills and experience gained from practicing boxing, kickboxing, jiu jitsu, and wrestling created a person who can fight, write and talk a lot of trash.
Whatever Happened To Cheryl Ragsdale’s Posts on Yahoo! Sports Contributor Network?
In 2011, I got a side hustle gig writing fan blog posts for Yahoo! Sports. As a Featured Contributor, I had a good run and a lot of fun writing mixed martial arts (MMA) reports that were accepted and posted by Yahoo! Sports editors through the Yahoo! Contributor Network.
Some of my posts were listed on the front page of the MMA section of Yahoo! Sports. I garnered over 2.7 million views from when I started in July of 2011 to when I ended in October of 2012.
But then, the whole Yahoo! Contributor Network gets taken down. What?!
Because I stopped submitting posts through the Yahoo! Contributor Network in October of 2012, I didn’t realize that a deadline (July 2014) had been issued to allow people to store their best work and favorite posts.
One day, I saw a random tweet from them, “Dear Contributors, You’ve made the past nine years incredible. Please read this important FAQ.”
There was a link. I was busy. I forgot to go back and check it out. What a lame tweet! I had no idea what was going on! FAQ’s about what?
This message could have been conveyed with a little more urgency, which would have made me look. But I didn’t click the link. Apparently, they tried to merge two platforms together and it didn’t work out. The cost to fix it was too high. So, they just left it broken.
DANG! I was mad because I didn’t get the news in time. I missed the emails and tweets to screen capture and republish some of my favorite stories.
Luckily, I saved this image of my page views and some of my headlines. I’m very proud of this Yahoo! Sports accomplishment.
Fight Analysis Page Views
Erased. Disappeared. Ghosted.
I PUBLISHED 381 ARTICLES. Even if I wanted to, how was I supposed to copy and paste all of that info? Seriously, that would have been a lot of work. I could have just focused on the best ones, of course.
Some things you just have to learn the hard way. It still hurts, though…
Yes, it’s true. I often learn the hard way. Thanks, Dad, for reminding me of that fact whenever I did (or said) something dumb.
“You don’t have to listen to me. Eventually, life will teach you everything you need to know.”
…SAYS EVERY DAD IN THE WORLD.
Fight Analysis Training
Writing those articles helped me to hone my skills. I analyzed fighters and their fights. I made predictions — I had a 50% chance of being right. I often was…much to the surprise of many people who — at that time — thought girls knew nothing about fighting. It’s a man’s sport and a man’s world.
But as it turns out, I have a talent for analyzing and writing about mixed martial arts (MMA).
The process of interviewing athletes, ring girls, event planners and other people interested in talking about combat sports developed skills in me that were dormant. I worked hard!
And I learned something new every day—about the ART OF IGNORING—from the barrage of negative comments left under my posts. Sheesh!
First, the NEGATIVE COMMENTS focused on my inexperience. Many MMA fans delighted in letting me know, after every new post, that I “sucked” and didn’t deserve to be there. “WHY DID THEY CHOOSE YOU?”
Well, guess what, people! I stuck around until I had 381 different articles written. And along the way, POSITIVE COMMENTS about my progress rolled in. I LOVED that season of my life.
Humble Beginnings, Humble Endings
I was so nervous to submit my first post. Once I applied for and received my MMA BEAT ASSIGNMENT from the Yahoo! Sports editors, it took me two weeks to work up the nerve to write something.
But I got off to a good start…
My first article generated enough views to earn me a “HOT 500 BADGE” for my first month as a Featured Contributor.
Telling the guys at Florian Martial Arts was so cool! They were pleased and surprised. “Wait! You just got your blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in February. It’s July and now you’re doing fight analysis as a fan blogger for Yahoo! How did that happen?”
Yes! I do fight analysis now. Lol!
For my first post, I decided to write about an event, an MMA Summit for female fighters hosted by (1) GREG JACKSON, from the famed Jackson Wink MMA Academy, (2) JULIE KEDZIE, when she was a fighter and before she became a Fight Analyst, Commentator and Match Maker for Invicta Fighting Championship, PLUS (3) CRIS CYBORG, who was the current Strikeforce Middleweight Champion at the time.
I really wanted to go to that event. But, at the last minute, I CHICKENED OUT! It was just too much for me. I didn’t feel like I was good enough to go. No one else was available to travel with me. If things got weird, I didn’t have backup from my trusted training partners. I had lots of EXCUSES.
Too bad for me. I still regret that decision. I never got to meet any of those people or train with a large group of like-minded women who just wanted to get better at jiu-jitsu. I made up a story about why it didn’t make sense for me to go. I DIDN’T GO.
Hindsight is 20/20. If I could go back and shout in my ear, I would make sure I booked a ticket and faced that fear, even if I walked onto the mats all by myself. I would have made friends—I always do.
And then, a few months later, a Japanese Fighter’s Manager asked me if I’d like to fight in a match in Japan…I thought about it. But, my coaches both (at the same time) said, “NO!”
Memories: That’s My Headline!
Some really cool things happened because of the fight analysis work I did during my time as a Yahoo! Sports Featured Contributor.
I remember one time watching a documentary entitled, “UFC Presents Ronda Rousey: Breaking Ground” featuring her career highlights, when suddenly, one of my headlines flashed across the screen. I was so excited! Beer splashed everywhere!
Follow the bread crumbs…
In an act of awesome randomness, I googled (in 2023) and found a link to my original Yahoo! Sports story reposted on JudoTalk attributing me with authorship. My broken heart mended a little. Thank you, Roy Harting, for preserving by reposting, ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey Breaks Arms, Wins Hearts and Sparks Controversy.
I’m especially proud of another Yahoo! Sports post, entitled, “Dana White Says Ronda Rousey (Future UFC Champion) Fights Like a Dude in a Girl’s Body”: Fan Reaction”
This article got 968 FACEBOOK SHARES! My best social media result ever! Even as Dana White continuously said, “GIRLS WILL NEVER FIGHT IN THE UFC!”, I predicted (hoped) for a UFC future for the women MMA fighters in the world.
And now, as we all know, Ronda Rousey pushed all the doors open for women to enter the UFC octagon (as well as all other MMA organizations) with style, grace and fierceness.
In the meantime, I’m in a new fight analysis season. It’s Demon Spotting Time!
Now, for some random screenshots I saved.
My photo albums and images are not as organized as I wish they were (that’s a project to save for a rainy day). But at least I have this collage of headlines that I found online somewhere on a time machine website.
A Nice Surprise Just Turned Up!
Today (24 March 2024), I googled to see if I could remember the website where I found the articles in the screenshot above. And I found one of my old articles on Y!Sports…What?! How exciting! Credibility restored! Anyway, here is a screenshot and the link to one of my posts from 2012.
Two UFC Legends Discuss Korean Zombie’s Chances Against Jose Aldo: Fan’s Look
And one more for good measure listed on the Wombat Sports blog. Shout out to Wombat for supporting women’s MMA since its early days, showcasing young female fighters before they became famous.
Well, that’s enough of that. Let’s go stare down some demons!
