Issue 166

Exposure to gamma radiation means, in times of extreme stress, the withdrawn and reserved physicist Dr Bruce Banner involuntarily transforms into his raging alter ego: The Incredible Hulk. In the real world, fighters actually undergo a similar but deliberate personality alteration (though not as theatrical). It’s because of the stressors placed on the psyche by the intensity of physical combat. They access an altered persona that represents a ‘split’ from their day-to-day personality in order to fight more effectively. 

Ironically, the baddest man on the planet is probably the nicest man on the planet and is a great example of this ‘split.’ Challenge yourself to find a man as affable as the softly spoken UFC heavyweight king Junior Dos Santos. He exudes warmth and kindness outside the Octagon, but if your name is drawn against his, that’s quickly supplanted by a cold and professional fighter. 

"I like being the nice guy," he told USA Today. “But fighting is my profession. It's my sport. It's my job. Every time I walk into an Octagon, I walk into the Octagon with the objective to knock the person out. To fight my best, to employ all the strategy that I've utilized and to win. That's my bottom line."

Occasionally, fighters will even reference their alter ego. On the Ultimate Insider TV show, 205lb champ Jon Jones referred to himself in the third person. "As an athlete, yeah I have a chip on my shoulder. It's completely two different people. 

"Jonathan Jones is a great person and father and I'll say that about myself. ‘Bones’ Jones? Yeah. He's a little high on himself. And I should be. That's why I compete on the level I compete at, and I train and believe that way."

When a fighter alters their mental state during competition they are consciously aware of the change because they initiate it. This is not the same as MPD (multiple personality disorder, also known as dissociative identity disorder) where the presence of two or more distinct personality states recurrently takes control of the host often without their knowledge due to memory blackouts. 

Combat psychologists agree, as Richard Grannon explains: "An alter ego or other persona – not a full personality like those experienced by those with MPD – is just a mask that represents only a small split in the personality. It’s a temporary shift in mental gears. It’s plainly observable that we all switch 'states' when addressing different people in different environments. When addressing colleagues at work, or when you’re kicking with a beer with friends, or when speaking to children you are completely a different version to the one in the gym or cage."

Even though physical combat should ignite this evolutionary self-protection mechanism, for many talented mixed martial artists they constantly battle internally to unleash their own ‘Hulk’ on fellow competitors. Grannon believes the reason lies in social cultural conditioning. "MMA fighters know they are in a sportive fight with rules and that sportsmanlike behavior is expected of them and yet they must accept that someone else is going to hurt them and they must hurt them back. 

"From childhood, most of us have been taught that violence and inflicting pain on another person is a deep social taboo." This creates, in some fighters, a large degree of subconscious conflict that could manifest as excessive anxiety that would otherwise be incorrectly perceived as fear of the fight when, in fact, it is resistance to breaking social taboos. The danger this presents fighters is a kind of self-sabotage, i.e. applying brakes when they should be hitting the accelerator. 

To tackle this issue head-on, Grannon has developed a psychological model he calls the supra-state. It suggests the practitioner creates and develops a minor split in their personality that can and will willingly inflict damage as and when required – while the true self remains intact by allowing the ‘altered state’ to confidently deal with the reality of fighting.

“The supra-state is a model of combative psychology in which the practitioner deliberately seeks to create an alter ego or version of themselves that is more capable of dealing with the mental anarchy and corporeal brutality of fighting than the practitioner’s normal personality is," explains Grannon.

“There are parts of your brain that cannot differentiate between real reality and reality that is vividly imagined. The human mind is more obedient and simpler in terms of operator friendliness than we give it credit for. The code to our unconscious mind is imagery; the trick to tricking your neurology is vivid visualization (i.e. imagination).”

So, step away from that unstable nuclear warhead; the real secret to releasing your real inner Hulk is already inside you.

CREATING AN ALTER EGO 

Benefits: Every single piece of unconscious resistance is squared away and the fighter is free to compete at their full potential without undue internal conflict. 

Pitfalls: Can create pent-up aggression and the unpleasant aggressive alter ego can bleed over into the normal personality.