Inside A Fighter's Mind

[PurpleStorm]

Great article by Roxanne Modafferi detailing her recent fight with Antonina Shevchenko. She goes in depth on her thoughts before during & after the fight.

https://www.bloodyelbow.com/2019/5/...ive-inside-mind-russia-shevchenko-mma-journal

Cliffs: In the moments leading up to it she had racing thoughts like 'what if I'm blinded or killed?' During the fight she tuned out nearly everything except for her opponent and the voices of her coaches.

Is this similar to what many fighters feel? Most interested in hearing from fighters or accounts by fighters of what it's all like, especially during the fight.

 

[Reach4theSky]

I think it depends on the fighter. Some go in with fear, some with excitement, and some with no emotions at all...

 

[Davey Crockett]

 

[Jackonfire]

Great read. Thanks for posting. I always like reading about behind the scenes stuff like this. Crazy to think she fought at 8:30 p.m. and had to be at the airport by 3:30 a.m. for a 20 hour journey back home. The life of a fighter.

 

[Ironman70.3]

How long before someone posts a gif of Conor?

 

[TheIrishPsycho]

Great article by Roxanne Modafferi detailing her recent fight with Antonina Shevchenko. She goes in depth on her thoughts before during & after the fight.

Nice thought bro but shes a woman - totally different mind to a man.

No man is going to feel any emotion before going into the cage, solid a rock, hard as steel.

Women don't process information very well and it becomes emotional leading to the break down in thinking and the appearance of female emotions such as confusion and fear.

Clinically men don't experience fear, these diagrams explain everything:

Sherdog passes the time nicely before the next divorce court appearence.

 

[GiSP]

Nice thought bro but shes a woman - totally different mind to a man.

No man is going to feel any emotion before going into the cage, solid a rock, hard as steel.

Women don't process information very well and it becomes emotional leading to the break down in thinking and the appearance of female emotions such as confusion and fear.

Clinically men don't experience fear, these diagrams explain everything:

Sherdog passes the time nicely before the next divorce court appearence.

Michel Pereira had a big old cry before he ever got in the cage on Saturday. Then he went to work.

Maybe it’s your brain that is different?

 

[PurpleStorm]

Michel Pereira had a big old cry before he ever got in the cage on Saturday. Then he went to work.

Maybe it’s your brain that is different?

Donald Cerrone has talked about how he's terrified before a fight. I recall Dominick Cruz saying 'anyone who tells you they're not scared before a fight is lying.' I'm sure it's somewhat different for each fighter so that's why I'm asking about it here. Interested in hearing from anyone who has fought or other accounts of what fighters say about it.

 

[GiSP]

Donald Cerrone has talked about how he's terrified before a fight. I recall Dominick Cruz saying 'anyone who tells you they're not scared before a fight is lying.' I'm sure it's somewhat different for each fighter so that's why I'm asking about it here. Interested in hearing from anyone who has fought or other accounts of what fighters say about it.

GSP has never been afraid to share his feelings surrounding all things fighting related. I always appreciated the truth.

 

[BC]

 

[PurpleStorm]

Great read. Thanks for posting. I always like reading about behind the scenes stuff like this. Crazy to think she fought at 8:30 p.m. and had to be at the airport by 3:30 a.m. for a 20 hour journey back home. The life of a fighter.

You're welcome. Same here!

 

[PurpleStorm]

GSP has never been afraid to share his feelings surrounding all things fighting related. I always appreciated the truth.

Oh yeah he's opened up about it a lot.

 

[Gamer2k4]

Cliffs: In the moments leading up to it she had racing thoughts like 'what if I'm blinded or killed?' During the fight she tuned out nearly everything except for her opponent and the voices of her coaches.

Is this similar to what many fighters feel? Most interested in hearing from fighters or accounts by fighters of what it's all like, especially during the fight.

I've never been in a proper MMA fight, but when I did judo competitions, that's exactly how it feels during the match itself. The first several times I competed, immediately after the ref called for us to start, there was this surreal feeling, like you're not quite inside your body and you can't quite believe it's the real thing. That eventually went away over the years, but during the actual match, I'm blind and deaf to almost everything except the coaches, both mine and my opponent's.

If you've ever been to a sporting event live after being used to watching it on TV, that's kind of how your surroundings feel. There's a sense of detachment between yourself and the crowd, and you certainly have no awareness of any of the other matches going on. Occasionally you'll catch a glimpse of the scoreboard, and what little you see of any other people (particularly the scorekeepers) is usually thorough disinterest - they've seen dozens of matches already that day, and yours is nothing special.

As far as conscious techniques and planning during the fight go, I do both. I imagine the masters have trained to a point where almost everything is unconscious reaction, but for me, the throws and moves are all very deliberate. I don't tend to feel any real emotion during fights, either. There's certainly a sense of panic when someone has a good choke or a tight body lock that keeps you from breathing, and of course you're happy when you win, but it's very rare that I actually get "fired up" in a match. Then again, I was never really a top-tier competitor, and that may be the reason why.

 

[Nabs]

Pretty cool read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ingjr]

Nice thought bro but shes a woman - totally different mind to a man.

No man is going to feel any emotion before going into the cage, solid a rock, hard as steel.

Women don't process information very well and it becomes emotional leading to the break down in thinking and the appearance of female emotions such as confusion and fear.

Clinically men don't experience fear, these diagrams explain everything:

Sherdog passes the time nicely before the next divorce court appearence.

Everyone experiences fear. It's a natural emotion and protects people from doing stupid shit.

 

[IGotAHugePeckah]

Really cool article. She's one of MMA's great come back stories, even though she hasn't won a title like a Robbie Lawler. Huge losing streak, goes on TUF and gets destroyed. 4 years later she's back on TUF dominating girls and ends up fighting for a title.

It's incredible to see how much she's improved her standup. It's not great but it's a far cry from being non existent like it was 4 years ago.

I don't think Antonina won a round against her, the SD was bullshit

 

[TheIrishPsycho]

Maybe it’s your brain that is different?

It is different, I'm a genius.

Everyone experiences fear. It's a natural emotion and protects people from doing stupid shit.

Men don't cry or experience fear bro, just as women don't secrete excrement.

 

[tasticles]

Donald Cerrone has talked about how he's terrified before a fight. I recall Dominick Cruz saying 'anyone who tells you they're not scared before a fight is lying.' I'm sure it's somewhat different for each fighter so that's why I'm asking about it here. Interested in hearing from anyone who has fought or other accounts of what fighters say about it.

I have done some amateur fights and while i managed to pull off the stone cold russian vibe, i was actually scared to death and sometimes had butterflies. Its not that you're not confident, its about the unpredictability of what's about to go down and that someone is going to try to hurt you. All of your hard work and preparation is on the line. Once you get going and here the words FIGHT its like being on a drug

 

[PurpleStorm]

I've never been in a proper MMA fight, but when I did judo competitions, that's exactly how it feels during the match itself. The first several times I competed, immediately after the ref called for us to start, there was this surreal feeling, like you're not quite inside your body and you can't quite believe it's the real thing. That eventually went away over the years, but during the actual match, I'm blind and deaf to almost everything except the coaches, both mine and my opponent's.

If you've ever been to a sporting event live after being used to watching it on TV, that's kind of how your surroundings feel. There's a sense of detachment between yourself and the crowd, and you certainly have no awareness of any of the other matches going on. Occasionally you'll catch a glimpse of the scoreboard, and what little you see of any other people (particularly the scorekeepers) is usually thorough disinterest - they've seen dozens of matches already that day, and yours is nothing special.

As far as conscious techniques and planning during the fight go, I do both. I imagine the masters have trained to a point where almost everything is unconscious reaction, but for me, the throws and moves are all very deliberate. I don't tend to feel any real emotion during fights, either. There's certainly a sense of panic when someone has a good choke or a tight body lock that keeps you from breathing, and of course you're happy when you win, but it's very rare that I actually get "fired up" in a match. Then again, I was never really a top-tier competitor, and that may be the reason why.

Really interesting description, thanks. In your experience have you seen people who are great in practice and don't do well in matches? Like their thermostat isn't working properly or something like that?

 

[PurpleStorm]

Really cool article. She's one of MMA's great come back stories, even though she hasn't won a title like a Robbie Lawler. Huge losing streak, goes on TUF and gets destroyed. 4 years later she's back on TUF dominating girls and ends up fighting for a title.

It's incredible to see how much she's improved her standup. It's not great but it's a far cry from being non existent like it was 4 years ago.

I don't think Antonina won a round against her, the SD was bullshit

I forgot about that TUF comeback. What a tribute to her hard work. Yeah I thought Roxy won all three rounds against Antonina too.