THE FIGHTER'S MIND-SAM SHERIDAN

I first became aware of Sam Sheridan when he published The Fighter's Heart five or six years ago. Interesting guy. Merchant Mariner then Harvard grad then began wanting to test himself as a fighter (broadly defined). The Fighter's Heart recounts his experience trining in several disciplines from boxing to Muay Thai to MMA to Jiu Jitsu. It's an excellent and insightful book. His latest is better.

The Fighter's Mind consists of a series of interviews with fighters and trainers across boxing, MMA, grappling, Jiu Jitsu, wrestling and other disciplines. Sheridan is trying to answer what initially seems like a simple question about fighting. What is the mental game? I won't go through the entire book but there were some snippets I found unusually eye-opening.

Dan Gable (wrestling legend)-In high school, college and the Olympics Gable lost only a single match. What did that loss do to him? CHOOM! It shot me up. I improved in the year following that loss as much as I had in the previous seven. What was one of the principal lessons? [At some point in a match comes a moment where] being overly aggressive is the only way I can lose. That Owings match taught me to do what I had to do to ENSURE victory. and my best wrestlers knew how to win before they knew how to wrestle. Gable identifies a key to being uber-great or uber-tough is the imagination to understand that is possible for you.

Freddie Roach-Fighters are born not made. He means this physically and psychologically. One thing he identifies is Manny's equanimity. That's why Manny wasn't destroyed by his early losses. He recognizes each fight simply has a winner and a loser.

Mark DellaCrotte (Muay Thai fighter and trainer)-When a fighter has too much time to think about a fight it clutters his thoughts. Talking about cornerwork. If the captain of the ship (the chief second) is a nervous wreck [between rounds] there's a problem on board.

Marcelo Garcia (grappler)-A comment. I know squat about grappling, but watching this guy toy with much larger men or choking men out so fast they go unconscious before they have a chance to tap seems extraordinary to me. Maturity is a big part of success in fighting... Accept that you can lose, that you can not perform...take the pressure off. Why does he win? Everything about Jiu Jitsu I love it. Maybe I am not better than my opponent, but I love my training more.

Teddy Atlas-I got angry afterward at people who said Michael [Moorer] quit. They didn't understand. Neither did the people who said Foreman got lucky. He didn't get lucky. He spent twenty years preparing to throw that punch, learning what he needed to do to get to that precise moment in time.

Pat Miletich (MMA trainer)-It's the guys who go to the breaking point again and again and don't give up [who become champions]. Sounds a lot like Demspey's "A champion is a man who gets up when he can't."

Virgil Hunter (Andre Ward's trainer)-You gotta be a little screwed up in the head in a lot of respects to fight anyway. I mean to take it to the pinnacle. To find those reasons, day in and day out. The ability to know that somewhere out there, hundreds of days, thousands of days. That one day is YOURS, somewhere. You work hard for it, for that one day, then everything changes and you have to be ready for it.

Andre Ward-There's one thing that always intrigued me about the book "The Five Rings." There was no trophy. It was understood there was a winner and a dead man. Which makes my approach to training totally different.

Randy Couture (MMA fighter)-You have to put a positive frame on things [in a fight]...It is out of my control what a referee does. It is just another thing to beat. On being a cornerman. [The key is] that positive statement that will keep a fighter on track. You want to be calm and focused...you use a word or a phrase that will get him centered, bring him back to his training.

David Horton (ultra-marathoner)-This needs a bit of an introduction. Just one of his feats. This guy once ran the 2200 mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in 52 days. In other words he average running 40+ miles a day, every day, for over seven weeks. He is talking about the ability to override pain and fear. It never always gets worse. What he means is the body is a remarkable thing. He had shinsplints two weeks into the run I noted above. Yet somehow running 40+ miles a day, three days later he began to feel better. The only way to determine the truth of your situation is to keep going.

Kenny Florian (MMA fighter)-My goal is to beat the hell out of the last Kenny Florian I fought. On the role of emotion in a fight. Emotions have no place. Emotions always run out...anytime you make a decision based on emotions you make a decision without all the information...whereas if I'm focused on techniques and strategy...what needs to be done tactically, then I'll make the right decisions.

Frank Shamrock (MMA fighter and trainer)-The mental side has three levels...visualization or conceiving...replicating, just practice...the third part is doing and every time you do it you get better. It takes less energy and stress.

There is a great deal more. I find it fascinating how many of the same themes appear across disciplines. Dan Gables "imagination" sound an awful lot like Frank Shamrock's "Conceiving" doesn't it? Teddy Atlas and Virgil Hunter and David Horton seem to be talking about the same concept.

It's a fun book. If you are going to read both, read them in the order written.