Tonya Harding has had an interesting place in the culture for someone who seems to be nothing more than a career failure. She first rose to prominence as a very good, and extremely athletic figure skater. She was one of the few athletes at the time that had the physical strength to pull off some of the sport’s most difficult leaps and tricks. This was due to the fact that she was physically closer in build to an NFL linebacker then skaters like Michelle Kwan and Oksana Baiul. While possessing tremendous strength she had all the artistic instincts of a water buffalo, and was being outshined by a rival American Skater; Nancy Kerrigan. Because the sport of figure skating doesn’t allow their athletes to “drop the gloves” and settle their differences on the ice (like in hockey), she dealt with Nancy in the only way someone unbalanced by jealousy can; she hired a thug to hit Kerrigan in the knee with a stick.
The attack, while wounding Kerrigan, didn’t stop her from competing, and Tonya was eventually caught, and banned from skating until the end of time, or until she can control her temper; whichever comes first. After this crime against Kerrigan, she went on to release a tape of her wedding night; her foray into porn can only be considered a crime against humanity. Since that day she had tried her hand at boxing, and is a regular commentator on the show “The Smoking Gun Presents: World’s Dumbest…” With all this as part of a very weird resume, she is about to add “cage fighter” to the list.
On January 24th, Tonya Harding will be putting her God given sour disposition to good use by fighting in UFC Octagon for the first time. The event will take place in the same area where she had one of her henchman whack Ms. Kerrigan in the knee; Detroit (it seems almost fitting).
In truth, though I make fun of Tonya for a thoroughly silly career, I do wish her well. Over the past decade and a half her one true success was rehabing her image to the point where she has actually managed to endear people to her. At least we like her more than the home wrecking ice Queen that she whacked in the leg sixteen years ago.
We look forward to seeing how she does as a UFC personality. Of course if this doesn’t work out, she probably has a future as a Nutrisystem spokesperson.
