“I said, ‘You know coach, I think this might be it,’” Kedzie told MMAjunkie. “I was sort of scared to tell him because it seems like you’re making excuses before the fight even happens. I thought he’d be like, ‘That’s bulls–t,’ but instead he just asked me, ‘Do you really feel that way?’”
“He just said, ‘Well then, let’s go out blazing.’ Then I lit up, and I felt so good,” Kedzie said. “I walked out there feeling like, this is the right choice.”
“Even though I feel like I won fight – and I really do feel like I won that fight – I also feel like I’m reaching my limit,” Kedzie said. “I don’t want it to not be fun anymore. I love going to the gym, and I love sparring. I love doing jiu-jitsu and wrestling and all of it, but I don’t want to lose that love just because one part of it isn’t fun anymore.”
“I started to realize that so many of the things that motivate people, I just don’t feel the same way about it,” Kedzie said. “Like when (UFC women’s bantamweight champion) Ronda Rousey says she’ll die in the cage, I think, I don’t want to die. I just want to fight well. But maybe that’s what I’m missing. Maybe that edge has kind of been smoothed down on me. I don’t think it’s a lack of passion, and I don’t think it’s a lack of crazy, because I am kind of crazy. I think, I don’t know, maybe I’ve just worked my issues out now.”
“I still want to do well and beat people up, but there’s this hunger for fame and glory and titles that I just don’t have,” Kedzie said. “I’m not saying that as a critique of other fighters, because I do think that’s an important element to a championship mindset. But if I’m being honest with myself, I come from more of a martial arts background where I like the respect at the end of the day. Like, I learned a good lesson and had fun, now let’s go home. That’s the motivation I come from, and I just don’t think it’s gelling with ambition very well.”
“I started because I loved it, and I ended loving it,” Kedzie said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to retire now, while I still love it, before it became a chore.”
“He just said, ‘Well then, let’s go out blazing.’ Then I lit up, and I felt so good,” Kedzie said. “I walked out there feeling like, this is the right choice.”
“Even though I feel like I won fight – and I really do feel like I won that fight – I also feel like I’m reaching my limit,” Kedzie said. “I don’t want it to not be fun anymore. I love going to the gym, and I love sparring. I love doing jiu-jitsu and wrestling and all of it, but I don’t want to lose that love just because one part of it isn’t fun anymore.”
“I started to realize that so many of the things that motivate people, I just don’t feel the same way about it,” Kedzie said. “Like when (UFC women’s bantamweight champion) Ronda Rousey says she’ll die in the cage, I think, I don’t want to die. I just want to fight well. But maybe that’s what I’m missing. Maybe that edge has kind of been smoothed down on me. I don’t think it’s a lack of passion, and I don’t think it’s a lack of crazy, because I am kind of crazy. I think, I don’t know, maybe I’ve just worked my issues out now.”
“I still want to do well and beat people up, but there’s this hunger for fame and glory and titles that I just don’t have,” Kedzie said. “I’m not saying that as a critique of other fighters, because I do think that’s an important element to a championship mindset. But if I’m being honest with myself, I come from more of a martial arts background where I like the respect at the end of the day. Like, I learned a good lesson and had fun, now let’s go home. That’s the motivation I come from, and I just don’t think it’s gelling with ambition very well.”
“I started because I loved it, and I ended loving it,” Kedzie said. “That’s one of the reasons I wanted to retire now, while I still love it, before it became a chore.”
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