How delusional are fighter's really?

[ThaiSexPills]

You have to be at least somewhat delusional. As soon as you realize anybody could flatten you on any given night, you’re going to lose.

I’ve never competed in MMA but I played and fought at a high level in hockey and it’s pretty much the same. There used to be a guy who I played minor hockey with that went onto major junior on a different team than me and he was insanely tough but he got beat good once and was never the same, getting sent down and changing his entire game.

Once you lose that confidence to make things happen, you’re going to lose. The delusional stuff helps you cope with reality. I used to tell myself after a loss I could beat anyone even though deep down I knew that probably wasn’t true. I’d make excuses (in my head, not outloud!) and tell myself next time it would be different and most of the time it was.

 

[Hellowhosthat]

Yeah, that turned out to be the case with Rinya who has wins over worlds and Olympic gold medalists and Kadimagomedov too. Turns out MMA fighters aren't the bums fans like to think they are.

Yeah fights like those are the ones that make me laugh when people saying the sport hasn't evolved. You get D1 wrestlers losing to 5-5 bums on the regionals sometimes nowadays.

 

[Chagaev]

I had to do a paper once on a similar subject, the rates of anxiety and depression were surprisingly high for top athletes.

It's not healthy to put all that pressure on yourself, nevermind in sports were you take actual beatings. There are more ways of coping than one, but being a delusional narcissist with unshakable self-believe is certainly one of them, or one of the criterias to get to the top in the first place.

 

[188912345]

Ilia going to get a reality check soon at Lightweight.

It's a big insult to mention Ilia in this thread that until now seems to be about Bo Nickal.

Ilia is one of the very best fighters in the world and he's good in all areas of the game.
His mouth wrote some checks, so far he has cashed all of them.

 

[HuskySamoan]

It's a big insult to mention Ilia in this thread that until now seems to be about Bo Nickal.

Ilia is one of the very best fighters in the world and he's good in all areas of the game.
His mouth wrote some checks, so far he has cashed all of them.

I think Ilia is making a very dumb decision leaving 145 before facing guys like Evloev and Jean Silva, but yeah, you're right. Ilia is rare, like a GSP or Jon Jones level athlete and intellect for MMA. Just has a really deep and rounded skillset, great conditioning, great athleticism and physicality, fairly deep arsenal of strikes etc. You just don't really see guys like that very often. That said, Ilia is a former 135er who moved up to 145, Islam is only slightly less gifted but a lot bigger and more experienced. Don't think Ilia wins it.

 

[188912345]

I think Ilia is making a very dumb decision leaving 145 before facing guys like Evloev and Jean Silva, but yeah, you're right. Ilia is rare, like a GSP or Jon Jones level athlete and intellect for MMA. Just has a really deep and rounded skillset, great conditioning, great athleticism and physicality, fairly deep arsenal of strikes etc. You just don't really see guys like that very often. That said, Ilia is a former 135er who moved up to 145, Islam is only slightly less gifted but a lot bigger and more experienced. Don't think Ilia wins it.

Fair enough. Islam did have some trouble with short guy Volk in their first fight, though.

Topuria is way more of a finishing threat so I can't completely count him out.

 

[HuskySamoan]

Fair enough. Islam did have some trouble with short guy Volk in their first fight, though.

Topuria is way more of a finishing threat so I can't completely count him out.

I don't completely count him out but he's been dropped twice in his career, both by left leg high kicks. And Islam won't give him much, sit on the outside, frustrate with kicks, try to counter him on the way and in and then clinch up and wrestle when Ilia does get inside. It's a very uphill battle, Ilia can for sure win though, just isn't likely to me. Also vacating after 1 defense and only fighting the old guard when he had so much beef with undefeated Evloev is kind of classless.

It's the size difference and the fact that the best wrestler Ilia has ever faced is probably Bryce Mitchell who was able to get him down. It's really hard to know how he will look vs Islam with such little pertinent data.

 

[Chayanne]

Everyone can be delucional sometimes, people with mental issues like narcissism you see a big ego and feel better than the rest and they hide behind the fact that fighters must have self-confidence, Comnor, Jones, Topuria, are for me examples of narcissism