Issue 100

April 2013

How to free the predator inside you

The nature of most predators is to quickly assert their physical dominance over their prey. For athletes who grace the hunting ground of mixed martial arts we see similar parallels. The moment the opening bell rings, many fighters appear to prey on the other by literally stalking them. This imposing of will is a catalyst for a subtle but powerful perceptual shift that in the majority of cases appears to dictate the outcome of many fights in favor of this ‘octagon predator.’ 

 Recently we have witnessed the same cat and mouse game being played out on both occasions when the two titans of the UFC, Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos, clashed. In their first encounter it was JDS who came out the active aggressor and landed a Hail Mary on Velasquez to become the new champion. 

After suffering his only loss, Cain believed he was the better fighter, but realized his mistake. “You can’t be out there waiting for Junior. He’s so fast, he’s so strong. You need to take the fight to him and I didn’t. I didn’t go for it, I didn’t attack him,” he would say afterwards. 

To earn his rematch he reverted to his roots as a cardio, wrestling, striking dynamo and ran through Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva to solidify his worthiness as the number one contender. And at UFC 155 the tables turned and Velasquez was now playing the wolf – and went on to unleash a relentless 25-minute beatdown over JDS to recapture the belt and the title as the ‘baddest man on the planet.’ 

And according to one of the world’s foremost experts on combat psychology, Richie Grannon [streetfightsecrets.com], the significance of Cain adopting this predatory strategy was the key to his success in the rematch.

BE FIRST

“From a behavioral psychology perspective, one of the advantages of ‘being first’ the one who launches the attack from the outset can often alter the dynamic of the fight. Setting the pace sets off a chain reaction, firstly by planting a seed of doubt in your opponents mind causing their emotional state to spiral negatively, and secondly neutralizing their skill-set and aggression. In NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) this is called ‘adopting second position,’” says Grannon.

PRO TIP: Get into the mind of your opponent, look at the world through his eyes. From his standpoint what would be his worst nightmare to face in the ring? Remember your fears of fighting are his fears of fighting. Capitalize on this by creating and training yourself to be that ‘nightmare opponent.’ Make it the most unforgiving and intimidating opponent imaginable in your mind. 

This psychological harbinger you’ve created now needs to merge with what you visualize doing to him with your strikes, take-downs, and submissions. This will put you in a more confident and aggressive state of mind and several psychological studies have indicated it may actually serve to make you more skillful. 

BE ACTIVE NOT NEUTRAL                                                                      ”So often two fighters enter the octagon in a ‘neutral’ mindset and they feel each other out waiting to see how the nature of the fight evolves. As aggression rises and falls these fighters are predominantly reactive rather than proactive,” says Grannon. “The danger here is fighters are unconsciously conditioning themselves to greet fearfulness, as when humans react to aggressive stimuli it often too late to counter as confidence has already been consumed by fear.”

PRO TIP: Adopting the stalemate strategy can work for experienced counter-strikers but isn’t always advised particularly against a veteran or known aggressive fighter. Through self-hypnosis and mental conditioning you can steer your mind into the fight as a confident aggressor to work to make your only chosen outcome – victory – happen for you. It’s a case of self-fulfilling prophecy; you must make it happen and not wait idly by to see if it will. 

Richard Bandler, the founder of NLP, said that: “In boxing, the fighter in the deepest state of trance will usually win.” Not trance as in ‘zombie-like’ but an altered state of consciousness we go into when we do anything that requires a high level of skill. Like it or not, consciousness alters during a fight. Start taking control of it otherwise it will control you.