Issue 122
December 2014
MMA is home to the most diverse array of personalities in sports, but where would you fit in? Are you more Georges St Pierre than Jon Jones? FO designed the questions so you can find out...
Fighting inside the ring or Octagon takes a certain type of person. To harbor the drive to compete in the ultimate proving ground in sports isn’t something most people walking the planet would ever even contemplate.
To pitch oneself against another man or woman – to pinch a UFC slogan – in a game of human chess takes a special kind of mind-set, a unique sense of drive to prove yourself more advanced than your opponent. It’s undoubtedly the one characteristic every mixed martial artist shares. But from there, the sport couldn’t be any more diverse.
Mainstream media will often pigeon hole fighters in this regard. Labeling them all as unique athletes with an apparent disregard for health and safety in favor of championship justification. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
MMA is home to a completely diverse array of personalities, characteristics and nuances – with the only constant being each individual’s desire to fight to become number one.
It’s true some athletes do have a bloodlust and chase knockouts with their chins as open targets. Others are into the spiritual side of martial arts and are looking to use their technique above all else. And then there are those who love the grind, the day-to-day effort it takes to compete, along with the punishment that goes alongside the lifestyle of a professional combatant.
Be honest. You’ve thought about what it would be like to fight. Now, if you did, what kind of fighter would you be? What bracket would you fit into if you were a professional mixed martial artists, and who from the UFC is your personality most comparable to?
DISCIPLINARIAN
This type of athlete knows no other way than the hard way. Usually always first in and last out of the gym, the disciplinarian likes to punish themselves – and their teammates – relentlessly on the mats. But you also won’t find a more loyal or popular partner for training. For these animals, sporting success and physical failure is always a very fine line.
Always Disciplined: Cain Velasquez
The UFC heavyweight champion was born already knowing the meaning of hard work. The son of blue-collar Mexican immigrants, Cain learned from a young age that you get nothing in life without sacrifice. And it’s certainly worked for the man most MMA fans consider the greatest heavyweight in history.
ECCENTRIC
Loud-mouthed, brash and single-mindedly committed to career advancement as quickly as possible, the eccentric adores MMA but loves the game even more. Usually as popular with fans as he is with the media, the eccentric knows how to light up a room and understands the essence of prizefighting – it’s all about the show. While their time at the top is sometimes short, they nearly always cash in.
Essential Eccentric: Conor McGregor
The young Irishman has taken over from Chael Sonnen as the biggest soundbite machine in MMA. With talent in abundance but, more importantly, the quick wit to sell it, ‘Notorious’ is like a sporting firework: huge, loud and overwhelming, yet ultimately perhaps not long for the Octagon.
SPIRITUALIST
Embracing the spiritual side of life, and with it martial arts, is paramount in your world. Fighting is just the reason the Almighty put you on Earth and so win, lose or draw, it’s only seen as the journey and challenge that he has laid out for you to tread. A powerful mental tool, defeat is all part of God’s chosen path for you.
Stereotypical Spiritualist: Benson Henderson
The former UFC lightweight champion is an active Christian and puts his entire career – highs and lows – down to God’s will. Having faith in your religion is a very powerful tool in a fighter’s mind-set as you can perform freely because the outcome isn’t under your control.
TRADITIONALIST
You live and breath martial arts and for you the competition offered inside the ring or cage is simply a bonus for all that hard work. If MMA never existed, you’d still be in the dojo day after day honing your craft and climbing up through the belts. For the traditionalist, martial arts is more of a way of life rather than a chosen vocation.
Typical Traditionalist: Georges St Pierre
The longest reigning UFC welterweight champion is conservative to the core. While his record-breaking career is littered with moments of incredible skill and persistence, for Georges the art in MMA always came first. Collecting black belts and evolving as a martial artist is his true passion.
MORALIST
For you it’s all about the work. Cutting corners and bending rules is for the dishonorable, you’d much rather be carried out on your shield than cheat your way to victory. You’re not a student of MMA, more a role model in life with mixed martial arts as your chosen profession or hobby. It’s the sporting challenge that compels you to compete, rather than an urge to be adored and celebrated. A role model for all.
Mainstay Moralist: Brian Stann
Is there anybody in sport as respectful and dutiful as the now-retired middleweight fan favorite? A decorated former US Marine, Stann’s entire life has been lived by the code of death before dishonor, and so you are in gilded company.
GEEK
Believe it or not, there is a huge nerd patrol in mixed martial arts, especially at the top level. Repping geek chic, however, certainly doesn’t mean you’re the runt of the gym. In fact, being an obsessive MMA statistician ensures great knowledge of the sport and it’s array of styles, and with it a passion to be top of the class.
Nerd by Nature: Joe Lauzon
While anime nerd Ronda Rousey and comic book geek Benson Henderson bring their own forms of fanatic obsession to MMA, the standout UFC nerd remains Joe Lauzon. Whether it’s comics, cartoons, video games or all of the above, Lauzon’s geekdom only enhances his athletic prowess, as more fight bonuses than anybody else in the sport suggests.
INNOVATOR
Working to the mantra: skills pay the bills, the innovator is an architect in mixed martial arts. This is a fighter who thrives on originality, loves to break down boundaries, and only sees the word ‘possible’ in impossible. Usually from a creative striking fighting arts background, the innovator is always a fan favorite and a full-time bonus check hunter.
Original Innovator: Anthony Pettis
The UFC lightweight champion tries things inside the Octagon that most fighters can only dream about. His ‘Showtime kick’ may be almost four years old now, but his effervescent mix of taekwondo, kickboxing and capoeira make for some of the most dynamic striking in the sport.
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