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Why no one may be tougher than the UFC's Cat Zingano

Cat Zingano wants to speak. She wants to make something good come out of a senseless, devastating tragedy.

As she lay in a hospital bed in 2013 recuperating from a knee injury, many thought it was a tragic event. The injury was devastating to Zingano, who challenges Ronda Rousey on Saturday in the main event of UFC 184 at Staples Center in Los Angeles for the women's bantamweight title, but it wasn't tragic.

Zingano had experienced tragedy first-hand while a freshman in college, when a close friend from high school was murdered.

Nothing can ever prepare you for that.

Cat Zingano, top, elbows Amanda Nunes in Zingano's win at UFC 178 in Las Vegas. (Getty)
Cat Zingano, top, elbows Amanda Nunes in Zingano's win at UFC 178 in Las Vegas. (Getty)

So while a knee injury that became two knee injuries and cost Zingano a television gig and a world title shot is unfortunate, it's hardly a tragedy.

Life goes on.

Until it doesn't.

It's been more than a year since Zingano's husband/coach/mentor/best friend/soulmate, Mauricio Zingano, took his own life in his home near Denver.

She's gotten on with life, but it's hard to say she's moved on. She wants to speak about the experience to help others who may be dealing with a similar situation.

Look at me, she wants to say. Look what I've accomplished. If I can overcome it, so can you.

It's easy to think that. Yet it's not so easy to say, even 13 months after losing her husband.

Zingano's not a particularly public person. Rousey, the unbeaten world champion, is at ease in front of a camera, whether it's acting in a movie, posing in a skimpy bikini or speaking to a group of reporters about her fight career.

Rousey makes it all look simple, natural, as if it's what she were born to do.

Even in the best of times, Zingano isn't particularly comfortable talking about herself and her life.

As the opportunity of a professional lifetime looms in just days, she knows the focus will, in many ways, be on her personal loss as much as it could be on her potential win.

"There's a human nature that people need to respect and honor about my situation," Zingano said. "If it becomes too much, then the interview is over. Period. If it is something that could be productive and helpful in our society and helpful in explaining the story, I'm just hoping it can impact people in a positive way. I'm absolutely more than willing to work with people to try to [be of assistance].

"I feel overwhelmingly supported [by the MMA community]. It's great that people have that humanistic empathy and can be real about things like that. I don't know how many people have gone through struggles like this or are experiencing it now, but it's unique and in an odd sense, enlightening. Once you feel this kind of pain and suffer this kind of thing, it brings you to a different understanding of what life is about and what's important and who's important."

Zingano's 8-year-old son Brayden is the most important thing in her life, and she knows she needs to be strong to help him.

When the UFC announced in late 2012 that it would adopt a women's division, it was a joyous day for Zingano. In the two-plus years since, she's been through her share of ordeals. She fought her way through an injury first to her right knee and then to her left.

She was an example of perseverance, dedication and commitment to Brayden. Many athletes have to overcome one significant injury. A second one, just as the first has healed, isn't particularly common.

She was frustrated, upset and disappointed, but she aggressively threw herself into rehabilitation on her knee the way she aggressively goes after an opponent in a fight.

She showed Brayden what it means to not give up as she got back into condition to compete at the highest level of her sport.

And then, there was Jan. 13, 2014, the day her life changed forever. Mauricio's suicide robbed her of so much. She was flooded with thoughts and emotions, and occasionally they become too much, and she curls up and cries.

But she’s a fighter, and the battle with Rousey, perceived by many to be an unbeatable foe, has motivated her again.

As much as all of the terrible things that have gone on in her life have hurt, she is eager to face the ultimate challenge. It's for love, of course.

Love, mostly, for her son. Love, as well, of the sport. And love for her late husband. If she gets to the top and accomplishes the dream they shared together, it will be a way of honoring Mauricio in a manner better than anything she could say.

"Honestly, we're not making tons of money here, you know?" Zingano said. "This is a lot more about passion than it is about the monetary value. However, these last couple of training camps, this is my only source of income. I lost my husband; I lost our jiu-jitsu program. I lost all of that.

"I have to look at it realistically. I have to provide myself and my son a proper life and live my passion. What I have to remember is that when I'm training, this is my job and I have to treat it like a job. But when they shut the cage door for the fight, that's a personal achievement. The work is done."

She pauses briefly as her voice cracks. There are a few seconds of silence before she begins.

"The one joy in my life, other than my son, is getting into the cage and fighting, because that's what I love to do," she said. "And it's great for me that my job allows me to do something that I love and allows me to take care of my son and give him everything I want to give him.

"Obviously, I understand that doing interviews are a part of my job. It's tough to do them sometimes, but if by me talking about my situation, that can help other people, well, then, that's good, too."

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