Kayla Harrison posted a photo on Instagram in April of her bloody Allen Iverson-esque stepover of a defeated opponent from last year. Both MMA fighters and the canvas splashed in crimson, Harrison disposed of another victim on her march toward an undefeated record.

The photo epitomized was Harrison was born to do — prove she’s a champion at the highest level, from the Olympics to the cage, leaving only destruction in her wake.

Her next photo three days later is of two small children, laughing, mugging for the camera, and, with each day, giving Harrison all the peace she’s ever wanted in her 30 years.

“I’m trying to be the baddest women on the planet,” Harrison said, “but now I’m changing 15 diapers a day.”

Harrison was a two-time judo Olympic gold medalist and won the Professional Fighter’s League’s $1 million prize when she finished 2019 as the league’s lightweight champion.

She was cool in Florida, where a tumultuous life had settled down and the only thing on her plate was the next bout. Like in the fight game, one blow can change everything. Tragedy struck in late 2019 when her mother had a stroke, and her stepfather died months later, leaving Harrison’s young niece and nephew without a guardian (her sister was out of the picture). The PFL, where Harrison had emerged as the face of the upstart promotion, shut down in 2020 because of the pandemic and suddenly Harrison went from rage in the cage to story time in the nursery.