Hi all, I am interested in the psychology of MMA. Specifically how do you get into a state that allows you to fight with a person that, in all likelihood, you dont know or have any sort of problem with. This isnt some sort of thinly disguised effort at trolling. While I come from a predominantly TMA background I have nothing but the greatest respect for the intensity and 'back to basics' reality of MMA fighting. It is an approach which, in my opinion, has had a tremendous impact on all of the many approaches to the martial arts. I am just genuinely interested in how you get yourself into the required 'state of mind' for something that is so ferocious. Thanks Paul
I do TMA but I don't understand... why do you have to get into a "state" just to fight with someone? Unless you have some sort of problem with violence or with competition, or think you're going to be seriously hurt, shouldn't you feel eager to get into a match?
I was born to fight. I ALWAYS got in street fights my entire life. I started out with muay thai to win more street fights, then I loved training so much I never got in fights anymore. I used to live to street fight, now I live to train and fight in the ring. Training is the best feeling for me, it makes me feel like my natural state is fighting and like any other sport, you train for it, you compete in it. I don't have any vendetta against someone I fight in the ring. I haven't been in any fights yet, but I have "gone deep" in sparring in the ring, full power with headgear and all that. I just put myslef in that mindset. "Alright, let's do it, this is what I train for." Honestly, IMO, you just gotta love to fight.
Hi Dragonspawn, I probably just havent expressed myself particulalry well. What I mean is that under normal circumstances most people, and that includes most if the people involved in mma that I have met, dont strike me as being all that interested in giving a complete stranger a hiding. But obviously under the circumstances of competition this changes. I have done things (sport and martial arts related) that involve contact, sometimes quite heavy, but not of the relentless sort that is related to mma. So I am interested in how people shift from the way they go about normally to the kind of psyche necessary for this sort of thing. Do they use a particular pre fight ritual, some kind of visualisation, that sort of thing. Hope that helps to clarify. I am quite keen to avoid this coming across as some kind of accusatory thing. Its just genuine curiosity.
IrishStomp, me and you are almost in the exact same boat brother! Although I started training 16 years ago when I was 3 it wasn't untill I wasa roudn 15 that I lived to train. Before than, much like yourself, it was all about the fight on the street (but ussually at school). You can certainly feel sympathy for your oppenent if you bollock the crap out of him/her (ring fighting I mean) but you can't let that get in the way of winning because you train for it and so does your oppenent. You've both accepted the risks and accepted the inevitable factor of feeling pain so you just got to antiup and get it done.
