Its All in Your Head: The MMA Mental Game, and Those Who Don't Have It.

via www.mmaspark.com

MMA is a sport in which a person turns themselves into a precise weapon in hand to hand combat. Day in day out drilling punch combinations, slips, and counters paired with ground training. It takes years to master the skills needed to be a world class martial artist, but there is one aspect of the game that is not so simple to obtain, the mental game. Don't get me wrong to become a great fighter skill wise isn't easy by no means, but if a person is committed enough to train each and every day to reach that goal then there is a good likely hood they will reach it. The mental game is something that can be worked on but yet never achieved.


There are fighters at the highest level today who cannot break through that mental barrier and fail to reach their full potential. The fighter shows amazing skill and abilities in the early stages of the fight, but once the fighter runs into some resistance he gives up and the fight is all but over.

Denis Kang is a fighter who has endless potential yet his mental game lacks and it causes him to lose fights. During his time in the UFC Kang went 1-2 which isn't a good tally seeing as the skill set that he possesses. In the Allan Belcher fight Kang was winning the stand up exchanges and also scoring some takedowns, basically winning the fight easily. In the second round it seemed as though the shots that landed flush on Belcher did not rock him and then off went Kang, he started to look uncomfortable in the cage and finally he made a slow and sloppy shot which ended in Belcher locking in the fight ending choke. It would be different  if it was just one occurrence, but Kang once again broke in the Bisping fight. The first round was all Kang, he even dropped Bisping. Bisping was impressive on the ground staying out of danger, but it was an easy 10-9 round for Kang. Once it hit the second round Kang's mental game ran out and he lost the fight. It seemed as though Kang was fine until he got taken down and from there on out it was academic, Kang broke and Bisping was going to finish the fight.

Andrei Arlovski was a wrecking machine, tearing through every one the UFC put in from of him. That was until a rematch with Tim Sylvia. In their First Meeting Arlovski dropped Tim and finished him with a foot lock. The second fight was expected to be much the same. AA came out and as before he floored Tim, but Tim recovered and in turn knocked Andrei out. IN the Third meeting the fighter that came out was no longer the Pitbullpeople had come to love but a shell of himself. AA played it safe the entire fight and did not go after Tim as he did in the previous fight.s Tim ended up winning the fight and AA was crushed. In his next few fights, Andrei kept things rather safe granted he did win the fight but the style he was implementing would not have got him a title. In his meeting with Wedum, Arlovski stayed at a distance the entire fight and pawed at Werdum winning a decision. In his final fight in the UFC he faced Jake O'Brien a fight that AA dominated but still did not have the same spark of the Pitbull of old. It was not until Arlovski was paired with Ben Rothwell the old Pitbull came to the surface again. Then the subsequent beating of ultimate fight 10 winner Roy Nelson had cemented the fact that Arlovski had the killer instinct back. Recently though Arlovski has dropped two fights and has been knocked out in brutal fashion so it will be interesting to see how he recovers as he faces "Bigfoot" SIlva in May.

The mental game is one that some fighters never master. A fighter such as Georges St. Pierre has managed to turn his losses into learning experiences and thus came back a much more dangerous fighter. Many times the signs of a champion isn't shown when he is winning the fight but how he reacts when hes getting pounded on. Some fighters such as Tim Sylvia, and Forrest Griffin have became champions based on their heart and determination. Sylvia has put in the time to be a great boxer but if it was not for all those sessions with MFS he never would have forged the skill he has. A man like Tim had to fight for every ounce of technique he has, unlike an Anderson Silva who is born with a fighters agility and just needed to mold it. People are standing behind Jon Jones, Junior Dos Santos, and other young guns, pegging them as tomorrows champions in MMA. I agree the skills are there but what happens if they lose a one sided fight, or gets put in trouble in a fight. Only then we will see if they are champion material or just a another fighter with potential.