Can fear make one sharper?

Luffy

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I've seen JJ mentioning feeling fear in the rampage Jackson fight, and how that made him crawl forwards his opponent in the beginning of the fight. JJ also said that the only other fighter he felt the same fear was when he was projecting a future fight with Ngannou (he thought back then he would still fight Nagnnou as he didn't know Ngannou would end up leaving).

The only other fighter I've also seen speaking about it is... None other than Tom Aspinall. He said it first in the press conference of the fight vs Sergei, that he was scared but like the[cited an animal that is the most lethal when scared] when I'm scared, that's when I can show how good I am. Then he had a whole conversation recently, with two psychologists that are specialized in athletes emotions, mentality, and he said he gets more scared after every fight. The shorts for reference (if you watch the entire videos, you'd get a more interesting look tho... It seems there is a difference)

Tom's video:



JJ's video:

Fear vs Rampage Jackson :



When he was talking about fighting Ngannou, right after Ngannou had beat Stipe in the rematch:





So.... Tom in the interview, also said that he isn't as good in sparring because he doesn't care if he gets his ass beaten, as only 10 ppl will know. But if he's fighting on his hometown with 25,000 ppl watching, he says it's a fear too strong because then, losing would be remembered by everyone, but that pressure brings him to make the best decisions under high pressure and that's what makes elite fighters. The psychologist said that (he's British too) he has talked to many football (soccer for Americans) players, like Steven Gerard, Frank Lampard (damn, those names bring good memories from when I'd watch the Premier league)... And when the psychologist asked who was the best player they played against, they'd name players who weren't even ranked within the top 10... They (the Lampard and Gerard) said the reason was those players were amazing in training, so they had a real talent, but during the matches, they would crumble because of anxiety and fear... And then he asked Tom why does that make him elite instead ?

So... can a fighter transform fear into a big ally? Or it's very unlikely? Like, the famous "be comfortable being uncomfortable, thrive in moments of pressure", some statements JJ uses from David Goggins... Is it the same? Or like, it's more about not letting the fear get over instead of using it to over perform?


I'm just curious on perspectives
 
In Jon's case, fear makes the weak minded cheat and hide under octagons.
 
GSP figured this out over a decade ago……….

Those prime time episodes dedicated to his fights were some of the best endings in terms of what “fear” is in MMA.


edit: Speaking of Primetimes, they need to bring them back. Those were more influential in terms of selling a PPV than embeddeds or pre fight conferences/media days could ever.
 
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