I have owned Dominance Mixed Martial Arts 10 years now, and, whilst many students compete, one of the phenomenons that I find most fascinating is the way in which potential and experienced fighters respond to the rigours of fighter training, as well as the competition itself.
It doesn’t really matter whether it be BJJ, Muay Thai or MMA, the nerves and pressure of competing are largely the same. At that very moment in time it is the most important thing we have ever done and we feel the whole world is watching (and for some that might even mean the whole world is waiting to see them fail).
I have competed at a state, national and international level since I began training in BJJ 15 years ago and have spent plenty time preparing not only myself, but my training partners and students for competition. It has been an eye-opening process to see the way people respond to the pressure of the impending competition date: how it changes the way they perform during class, their intent, focus and their mental and emotional states.
The vast majority of students tend to drop back in performance when competing. Whether it be 5% or 50% most will find they lose some skill due to nerves, anxiety, fear, or fatigue. A very small percentage of the competing population enhance their performance in competition, as they feed off the nerves and excitement, their game improves.
Following this logic you could say that competing is not for everyone, however I believe the opposite is in fact the case. Competing is for everyone. I do not mean to say we are all champions. To quote Sun Tzu, “victory is reserved only for those willing to pay its price”. And there is a high price to pay in order to be the best – the question I put to my fighters is: ‘are you willing to pay it?’
Competition drives us to improve our game. Regardless of the result, we will have accelerated our learning/training process simply as a consequence of preparing for the actual competition. The result of the fight is irrelevant to this gain. Even if we lose in the first round we will have pushed our game forward at a greater rate than usual. The competition itself tends to dramatically improve our training directly AFTER the competition as well, for it brings into focus areas that need work, exposes us to different styles of play that exist outside our usual training partners/academies, and motivates us to be better.
Through the rigours of competition training, students learn a lot about how they deal with pressure and stress. From personal experience, I know that how a person deals with stress on the mat is no different to how they deal with it in any other area of their life. Competition is like a magnifying glass, and as such it is a great opportunity to see what habits have been created over the years and address any that need changing.? ?It doesn’t matter what martial art discipline we choose, MMA, BJJ or Muay Thai, we should all compete at least once in our lifetime. If not once a year? Not for the little medals or the accolades (although they are nice food for the ego) but simply because of how it accelerates our growth in our chosen art, martial artist, and as a person.
Dave
DMMA
