Its been said that in all sports at the professional levels its 90% mental and 10% physical. I find this to be true in most sports. In golf the slightest self doubt can slice a ball twenty yards in the wrong direction. In the NFL and NBA the right play or gameplan makes and looses games. In tennis exposing and attacking slight weaknesses of your opponent causes them to self distruct. Even in boxing... a strong mental makes champions in the final rounds. But what about Tyson? He dominated with pure physical you say because we all know how mentally weak he is.... well what happened when people realized he wasnt invincible? Exactly! his opponents gained the mental edge... More often than not a undefeated fighter is never the same after that first devastating loss.... a single second of self doubt or indecisiveness can get you KTFO....
So has MMA reached that level of competition or does brute physical dominance still reign king? Look at the Fedor. Calm n composed in any scenario constantly working his gameplan. Key work "his gameplan" forcing upon his opponent his will. GSP knew he was not mentally capable to beat Hughes in their first fight. We've all seen Crocop allowing fights to slip through his grasp when thing are not going his way. How many times during training or practice have you wanted to quit? Have you ever allowed yourself to be tapped due to exhaustion. But you say that "heart" not mental toughness.... well your mind controls how much heart you have my friend....
no coach or dojo can teach you that... its developed from the day of your birth and life experiences... is this the dawn of pure cerebral warriors?
I'm not sure I agree with this. I think that the right sort of training can help. Call it heart, call it resilience. People who put themselves in the worst positions when they train or are motivated past their exhaustion during training can accumulate "more heart"
If you've had experiences in training where you've gone through hell and back and overcame your opponent in the end, then you will have gained more ability to do this in a fight. Compare this to a fighter who taps in training everytime things get tough; how would he do when he gets in a tough situation in a fight?
Yes n No...... I knew a highschool wrestling coach who consistantly produced division CIF champions. But that was as far he could take them. Or was it thats as far as they could take themselves.
Which came first the chicken or egg, Heart or Conditioning? if you didn't have heart to begining with... no amount of pushing, yelling, coaching will help you. We could go on about this but i think you missed my point. I'm talking about at the Professional levels... Where most skills are neutralized by one another then it becomes a mental chessmatch... from the staredown, how you reacting to getting hit, and the "Will" you impose upon the fight...
To a certain extent I agree. Some people just "have it" and some don't. But I still think that its something that can be worked on. Sports with a lot of money (NFL) have sports psychologists as a regular part of their teams. Its been said over and over that the athletes who perform best are the ones who do meditation drills and visualize the various outcomes of an upcoming contest.
Perhaps I'm taking your post in a different direction than intended. I do agree that the mental aspect of the game plays a far more significant role than what is generally talked about. Some people can simply impose their will on others. Why was a guy like Fedor able to make a superior striker like Cro Cop look gun shy?