MMA & THE EGO

 

 

Throughout my 10 years or so in Mma I’ve gone back and forth with my opinions on the ego and how important it is in Mma.

The first thing I believe that you have to do is recognize that you have one. Seems like a silly thing to say, but I think so many fighters fall foul of recognizing when their ego is doing the talking, and maybe they should give it a rest and take over for a while. But is letting your ego run away with you a bad thing and if so why? This is a very complex, convoluted question, one which I’ll do my best to answer.

First off since everyone is different, not to mention every situation is different, there isn’t any right or wrong answer.

Now, when I first started Mma I would’ve argued that I didn’t really have an ego. I knew I was a beginner, I had no illusions of grandeur and I listened and tried to learn as much as I could. I linked someone who had an “ego” as a bad thing because like most people… I link ego with arseholes (not literally as I’m not quite sure how that would work).

Because I haven’t ever classed myself as an arsehole, I didn’t think I had an ego. I’ll explain why I was wrong.

When I was training there were no real Mma clubs about so I trained the three martial arts separately, Ju Jit su, Boxing & Wrestling. I remember when I started to get a bit fitter and I’d gained a few low level wins under my belt I watched Pride. Nog vs. Fedor. I recall thinking I’m not there yet but I’m not a million miles away. When the reality was that I was really a couple of light years away!
Looking back, what I believe would have helped me was if I had been sat down and told the cold hard truth, then again if I had then I might not have even stepped foot in the ring/cage to start with.

The problem is that positive thinking can be part of the problem itself, but it will only take you so far when it comes to your ego. Reality caught up with me and let me tell you it has a hell of a right hand.

This is what I was talking about earlier. Once your ego takes a body blow, how will you react to it? When something like this happens the vast majority of fighters lose. I used to get pissed off when I detected a bullshit excuse from a fighter about losing a fight. I’d think come on now. I think it’s essential to look back see the mistake you’ve made hold your hands up and improve on them. The bullshit excuse stops the fighter from doing this and so I didn’t see any plus side in it.

These days I see things a little bit differently. Although I stick by my previous comments I now also see those ‘bullshit excuses’ are a safety device as for a lot of fighters. Bullshit excuses are an airbag that save the ego from taking too much damage. It’s needed because too much damage to the ego can really have a negative effect on a fighter’s mentality.

When it comes to fighting you have to really believe you’re going to win. If you can write off your loses with an excuse, but still train hard and improve what you need to improve, then you’re laughing.

This is why I envy some fighters out there who aren’t really too self-aware. They believe their own bullshit, which can be really helpful especially if you have a good coach who can see this and knows how to handle you with kit gloves and improves your weak areas.

Myself, I am very self-aware. For a while I thought I was TOO aware. When my trainer would say before a fight “ come on James, you’re ready for this, you’ve trained hard” I’d think no I haven’t, I’ve spent most the time at the blackjack table. That’s how I reacted to decisions that I saw as unfair back then.

I used to see this self-awareness as a disadvantage but it wasn’t. It will only work though  if you’re putting the time in at the gym. You can’t spend all your time listening to Antony Robbins tapes, enter Mma and then take the title in blitz of carnage and mangled bodies.

So to sum up. It’s important to listen and learn, stay grounded and realise you’ll never know it all, but at on the other hand if you hear a fighter giving excuses you don’t believe, give him a pass. It’s a tough sport and going out fighting in front of people takes a lot mentally and physically. Sometimes a fighter needs that ‘ego air bag’.

I remember Rampage Jacksons saying in a Pride interview

” I’m not going to give you excuses for my losses, but I have an excuse for all of them”

I realised if I wanted to fight and if I couldn’t baffle myself with my own bullshit then I’d better start putting the effort in. That way, win or lose, I could be satisfied I had done everything I could.

Being injured after the Lashley fight, then having a whole array of sickness and injuries, has given me a lot of time to reflect on my career and now I’m healthy (although fat at the time of writing this) I’ve looked at my weak areas and took apart my training, so next time so you see me you’ll see a more ‘in tune’ Colossus, mentally and physically, who will be dishing out some damage and finishing the last part of his career on top…. Grrrrrrrrrr… I told you I had an ego 😉

 

 

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Donations via PAYPAL colossalcollective@hotmail.co.uk

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DISCLAIMER

Please note, the thoughts and opinions posted here are solely those of the author and do not represent those of anything linked or related. All content provided on this Colossalconcerns.com blog is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner of ColossalConcerns.com blog will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Colossalconcerns.com is NOT the owner of any videos that are found or embedded on this site. ALL VIDEOS on colossalconcerns.com are hosted by third party sites such as You Tube, Daily Motion, Novamov, Vimeo etc. Therefore all videos found on this site belong to their respective owners. Colossalconcerns.com DOES NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ANY AND ALL VIDEOS FOUND ON THIS SITE.

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MEETING MY HERO – THEN HIM KICKING THE SHIT OUT OF ME

Meeting my hero
(then him kicking the shit out of me)

This was originally meant for the book I’m writing titled Gym tales and COLOSSAL adventures.
But seeing that I’ve got so many exciting, action packed, fun filled tales I thought- what the hell I’d throw out a bit of a free taster for you guys. Why? Well that’s just the kind of guy I am. So join me as I take a trip down memory lane and recall what it was like to meet my hero, Randy Couture, then have him kick the shit out of me.

So, I had been fighting mma for just over two years. I’d had two fights in pride and the daunting task at hand was starting to dawn on me. You’d think it would have hit me before this but a mixture of ego and the fact that I’m a slow learner delayed this process. I started to realise that if I wanted to improve- which I did- I needed to be pushed. Even though I was by no means the most skilled person at Trojan mma club where I was training at the time, I was the biggest and I’d muscled my way out of trouble thus far. I realised when I fought some one that was my own weight I wouldn’t be able to do this and there wasn’t anyone my size to spar with at Trojan either.

It became clear I was going to have to travel to get the things I needed from training. Where to go, where to go?

I decided on team quest in Portland, Oregon. I knew I was fighting in two months for Pride FC and since it was in Pride I was getting used to the fact that I had no idea who my opponent might be so I opted for team quest. Home of such greats like Randy Couture, Dan Henderson and Matt Lindland. How could I go wrong training with guys like that!? Whoever the’ Pride powers that be’ saw fit to pit me against… I’d be ready.

So I made a phone call to Team Quest. They told me there was a motel I could stay at that was literally across the road from the gym and that I’d be welcome to train there so I told them when I’d be over, put the phone down, booked my flight and counted down the weeks till I’d be there.

I can’t remember that much of Oregon. I think it’s because for the most part of the eight weeks I trained there I was literally on the same road that had my motel on. The super market was just across the road from Quest and that was all good for me.

I arrived late, around ten pm. I checked into my motel and said hello to my crack head neighbours. They seemed nice enough, a bit twitchy but all was good. I settled into the room, got my training kit ready for the next day and resisted the great temptation to buy the ‘miracle knife’ which was a on an infomercial I found strangely entertaining.

The next day I was up early. I found a nearby restaurant and had breakfast then made the short walk to Team Quest. I was an hour early but whatever; I could get a feel of the place and warm up a bit.

I entered the gym from a side entrance. There was a small room with mats and bags then the reception in the middle then the main room which had a huge matted area. I approached the reception area and introduced myself to a lady called Willow. Willow looked a hippie but strangely for hippie she was in shape. A ‘high performance hippie’ if you will. I half expected her to try and sell me a dream catcher as I explained who I was and why I was standing in front of her. She was as nice and welcoming as could be and showed me to the changing rooms.

I got myself ready and made my way to the main room to start warming up. Half way through my third round of shadow boxing a voice said “Hi buddy do you want to spar?” I ceased my devastating combo of punches and I can tell you my imaginary opponent was VERY relieved. I turned round to see the voice belonged to Mr Randy Couture. His back was towards me and he was rummaging in his training bag. I don’t know why I was so shocked to see him standing in front of me, I mean this was his gym after all, but I was.

Even though I had heard him my response was “eh??” I don’t know why I said this. Was I buying time while the reality of the situation absorbed into my frontal lobe? I immediately thought this sounded rude when Randy said “Sparing, would you like to spar?”

This was unreal. Would I like to spar with Randy Couture? This was too much, of course I would!

I said yes, well I actually said “aye” (Which is a northern way of saying ‘yes’).

A puzzled looked came across Randy’s face and he said “your eye?” in a somewhat puzzled tone of voice.

This wasn’t the first time an American had trouble making out what I was saying, in fact Americans on the whole have enormous difficulty in trying to understand what I’m trying to convey. That is until I teach them the Queen’s English.

“Of course Mr Couture I would be honoured to part take in the said duel” I said like a character out of Pride and Prejudice…

I’m only kidding I think I said something like “aye, I mean yeah I’d love to have a spar”

I’m not sure how much Randy understood me as he said “Oh you mean yes”. He must have been thinking – fucking hell this simple question is a workout in itself!

I again responded with “aye”. It was an automatic response. If I would’ve had a miracle knife to hand I would’ve willingly fallen on it.

I quickly followed with “I mean yes, great of course”.

He smiled and carried on putting on his training kit. This whole conversation must have lasted all of thirty seconds but it felt like a lifetime. I suddenly realised my mouth was so dry that my tongue seemed to be welded to the top of my mouth. I went to get a drink of water, then stopped and went to put on my gloves then tripled back as I realised it would be easier to drink water without having boxing gloves on!

I was glad Randy wasn’t paying me any attention as it looked like I’d decided to jack in Mma to start doing the robot.

Get a grip Thompson, I silently demanded to myself as I walked over to my water. I drank, put my shin pads and boxing gloves on and walked to where Randy was waiting for me. When I look back I didn’t feel nervous, I mean I’m sure I did but that emotion would have been further down the list of what I was feeling, after surrealness and just pure awe.

We touched gloves. Randy was circling out of distance and I was wondering how hard to go. I mean, I hadn’t sparred that much due to lack of training partners of my size and when I got in the ring/cage I tended to go for the ‘all out full psycho’ approach, which I would never do in training. As I was mulling over this delicate quandary, a stiff jab landed straight on my chin quickly followed by another.

I rushed forward; Randy got under hooks and took me down. I then spent a lot of time on my back being ground and pounded.

I can’t remember too much more about it as I was getting tired and hit a lot! Even through all this I am willing to bet there was no-one more happy to be punched in the face!! Other fighters started to come in to train at this point, so we called it a day.

As I was grabbing some water it suddenly occurred to me I hadn’t landed a punch or got a take down. I hadn’t done anything apart from be an ‘over happy punch bag’. My joy of being beat up dissipated and I started to feel embarrassed – When you’re a fighter of any age and you train somewhere else you always want to give a good account for yourself. I hadn’t done that and suddenly felt sick.

I introduced myself to Robert Follis, the head coach at Quest, there were a hell of a lot of fighters in the gym now. We all warmed up in the massive matted area before sparring with each other. I sparred with Matt Lindland first. I recall that I was very determined to give a good account for myself. I can’t remember much of the spar except that I got an arm bar right at the end of the round. I remember this as firstly it was Matt Lindland and secondly I never go to get arm bars.

I was feeling like I’d redeemed myself a little in this spar. We had a minutes rest and then went with someone else.

The next guy (I can’t remember his name) had only had a couple of fights and was a small, light heavy weight wrestler, but he guillotined me in the first 30 seconds. I was then arm barred by Dan Henderson from guard which I thought was out of order since I’ve never seen Dan do this. Then I got tapped out loads by Matt Horwich, who I thought was a little unorthodox in his methods, as he would tell me what he was going to do before he did it. He wasn’t actually saying his next move out loud for my benefit, he was obviously organising his moves in his own head and speaking them out loud, but it went a bit like this

“Horwich gets a under hook, takes the single leg, heel hook and then Horwich gets the tap” it just what he did sometime but it worked for him so fair play. (I’ve since met up with Horwich again when I fought in KSW and he’s a genuinely nice guy and I wish him well in multi universal life and in his Mma endeavours 🙂

Anyway back to Team Quest. I was exhausted by this point, when Lindland ask for another spar! My body cried out as I was tapped and pummelled relentlessly. It was a mad, painful first day but I really enjoyed it – apart from when Lindland’s glove caught my eye at the end of the last spar we had and it wouldn’t stop watering. It was painfully annoying and I couldn’t see out of my eye as it constantly streamed water.

At the end of the session Randy asked me if I wanted to get something to eat with him and Lindland which was great. I wasn’t nervous by then as I think my nerves had been beaten numb. Of course I got showered and took them up on their offer. I can’t remember much of the meal or the conversation as my eye was watering constantly and caused a massive distraction. Just my luck I thought, here I am sitting here with two Mma legends and all I can do is wince and dab my streaming eye with a napkin!

When I got back to my room I led on my bed and went through the events of the day. I started going over the mistakes I’d made while sparring then beating myself up over them which was easy as I was tired from everyone else giving me a beating. I started to feel down. I was letting my ego get the better of me. Instead of concentrating on the bad stuff which I’d been over analysing for the past hour I tried to look at the good stuff as well as the bad in order to help me improve. The things I had done at Quest, the fact I’d met so many Mma legends that were really nice people and the fact that I’d even eaten with Randy Couture and Matt Lindland… Jesus!! It had been a great day. What did I expect to come here and take over? Of course not. I realised that If I trained hard I could learn a lot from this whole experience and that’s what I intended to do.

Pride ended up giving me giant Silva to fight. A guy with not much skill but that posed a lot of difficult questions since well… he was a giant. I went into that fight feeling confident due to the fact that I’d had such a lot of help from Matt Follis (head coach at Quest) Mike Dolce who worked on my diet and strength and conditioning, and Jay White, my heavy weight sparring partner, not to mention all the legends I’ve mentioned before in this blog and a whole host of fighters I haven’t. Basically it was a great experience, one I’d recommend to any fighter to do. Get out of your comfort zone, leave your ego at home and go train.

Thanks for reading my blog, please remember to ‘follow’ it for updates as to when the next one is posted before it hits the social media platforms.

If you enjoy reading my blogs then please feel free to make a donation to the cause, the amount donated directly links to what COLOSSAL Karma you’ll receive. 

Donations via PAYPAL colossalcollective@hotmail.co.uk

My Colossal Collective T-Shirt is available directly from my website page

http://www.colossalcollective.com/shop/tshirts/colossal-collective-teeshirt-black/

My Website of all things ‘COLOSSAL’ www.colossalcollective.com

My facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-The-Colossus-Thompson/199137513465142 &

My podcast Colossal Concerns on Itunes. http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/colossal-concerns-podcast/id558622595

My twitter https://jp.twitter.com/JColossus

My YouTube channel Colossalcollective http://www.youtube.com/user/ColossalCollective

DISCLAIMER

Please note, the thoughts and opinions posted here are solely those of the author and do not represent those of anything linked or related. All content provided on this Colossalconcerns.com blog is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner of ColossalConcerns.com blog will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.

Colossalconcerns.com is NOT the owner of any videos that are found orembedded on this site. ALL VIDEOS on colossalconcerns.com are hosted by third party sites such as You Tube, Daily Motion, Novamov, Vimeo etc. Therefore all videos found on this site belong to their respective owners. Colossalconcerns.com DOES NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ANY AND ALL VIDEOS FOUND ON THIS SITE.

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MIND, BODY & SOUL AND ENSON INOUE

 

If you would have said to me, three months ago, that I would have written on my Facebook status and started a thread on mma.tv about the fact I will never tap in another mma fight again then I would have looked at you with an element of distain, whist thinking “you really don’t know me at all”

Why would I ever feel the need to make such bold statement and put pressure on myself? Plus, if a fighter makes a mistake and gets caught in a fight the normal mantra is you tap, you lose, but you learn from it and you come back stronger (hopefully). It’s all very acceptable to tap out in a fight if you’re in an unlucky position you can’t get out of. I have thought this way for pretty much all of my fighting career. No fighter want’s to tap, but we know that it will be ok if we do as sometimes in a fight there is no other way out other than to tap… or is there…

I look at it as ‘my old way of thinking’, and now I have a ‘new way of thinking’.

Old way of thinking = ok to tap (if you HAVE to). New way of thinking = Not ok for me to tap, I’m just not going to do it.

The strange thing is, I still agree with anyone who has my old view on this subject – which makes what I’m saying even harder to understand (even to me sometimes and I’m the one that’s saying it) and I thought by devoting a blog to it, I could clarify my new way of thinking.

First off, me saying ‘I’m not going to tap in a fight again’ isn’t about being tough, it’s not about ego. All combat sport has, to some degree, ego issues but in this case it’s not the determining factor. It’s actually something much deeper, which I’m still trying fully to understand. Let me try and make myself some-what ledge able.

I was listing to the ‘Joe Rogan Experience podcast’ and his guests were Chuck Liddell and Enson Inoue. Now, I have watched Enson, a long time ago, and remembered him as being a tenacious, explosive fighter that always came to fight (understatement of the century). But while I was aware of him, I wouldn’t say I knew too much about him.
While I was listening to him on the podcast it struck me how intense, kind and thoughtful he came across. I got the impression this was a man who says what he means or he doesn’t say anything at all!

When they got to the point of discussing his fights, the subject of ‘tapping’ came up. Now, I was listening intently at this point as my view of the matter was like I stated above – tap, learn, and come back stronger because anything else is just ego bullshit. Enson took another view, quite the opposite of my own, which was the reason I was listening so intently at this stage in the podcast.

Enson hadn’t come across like this at all, in fact completely the opposite.

I remember back to watching him fight Nog and getting caught in a quick transition from arm bar to triangle and being choked unconscious. I remember thinking two things at the time. The first was that it was pointless and the second was that I had a begrudging respect for him.

HERE IS A LINK TO ENSON INOUE VS ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA

“http://vk.com/video_ext.php?oid=-38384965&id=162907026&hash=4e7a144b788f4df7&hd=1″

 

What he explained next will change the way I fight, and by doing that it will change my life to some effect (I know, heavy right)

Enson said that when he fights, he has made a peace with himself. Right to the point that he has faced the fact he could die when he steps though those ropes to face his opponent. We know he overcomes this fear as he is there, in the ring, ready to fight.

Being a fighter I’m obviously comparing what he was saying with my own way of thinking. Was I prepared to die every time I was ready to fight? Well, in a way I suppose. I guess everyone that fights makes that choice. Is it likely to happen, that we might die in there? No it isn’t. So really grasping that concept and believing it is like letting that fear go.

I never thought too much about that side of it as a lot of the time I feel like the more you think about something, the more you worry, the more likely it is to happen. So I just go in there to do my best and fight.

After hearing Enson on the JRE experience I realised I had to try to free myself from fear as it was stifling me. I was scared to lose which was slowing me down in all aspects of my life, not just Mma. Now I’m trying very hard not to be scared of being scared.

Like any problem you encounter it needs to be looked at – otherwise how else are you going to figure it out. Only, it’s not that simple. Because fear can also be a good thing, it can motivate you and keep you, well… alive. The more I listened to Enson, the more I watched him fight, the more I saw a fighter with a massive advantage over most of us and there was a man who was controlling and using his fear to his advantage. How had he done this? Well like I said earlier, he was fighting like his life depended on it because simply… it did. This in turn made him train like his life depended on it… because it did.

He had come to terms with the fact he could, and was willing, to die in the fight.

Now when you take my old point of view “I’m not going to think and just fight” and put it up against Enson’s “I have accept I might die and now I’m ready to fight” Who do you think has the advantage going in?

I realise it’s not just as easy as this, to just adopt another man’s thinking to improve how you fight, because the way you think or what you believe in also depends on your personality, which complicates this matter even more.

Maybe if you look into it as deeply as Enson you’d get more nervous as thinking or doing without fear might not come naturally to your personality type. If you’re nervously inclined then Enson’s way would make you think ‘I’m only pushing myself and having a go at Mma, I’m not on about dying or suffering serious injury’.

I don’t think people who think this are wrong; there is no right or wrong way… It’s what is right for you and the only one that can tell you what’s right or wrong for you is yourself. No one else can.

What Enson said made real sense to me. He had conquered his fears by accepting them. Which made him more dangerous a fighter and, I’m guessing, as a person.

This hasn’t always been my view. I’ve never gone into a fight with this mind-set. Training like I’m going to have a fight that could end me. In fact for some fights I haven’t trained at all. I’ve drank, gone out, taken all manner of drugs and gambled incessantly and then (surprisingly) fought and lost. Only to wash, rinse and repeat.

You tell me which those two options is more dangerous, especially given the way I fight, which is flat out no matter what shape I’m in. I think the answer (in regards to me) is simple.

So I’m changing, not just the way I fight but the way I am as a person. This started happening before I listened to Enson on the JRE but this interview only accelerated things. This is why I made the thread on mma.tv and posted a status on my Facebook Page.

You’re probably thinking why did I have to make it public, why couldn’t I just adopt that way of thinking in silence. The answer is simply that I’ve noticed when I write something down it helps me get it done. I might not even go back to what I have written but just the act itself solidifies something in my mind.

When I’m doing my YouTube videos (Subscribe to my you tube channel Colossal Collective) I write all my thoughts down on my I pad, note book thing and it’s like I’m writing them into my mind, to regurgitate them in an entertaining fashion for your amusement. I also don’t say things that I don’t whole heartily believe, I just don’t.

So something as big as this wasn’t just a knee jerk reaction. I really looked at it, into myself, for the answers to find what’s right for me… and this is what I believe is.

I’m very aware that it can be perceived as ‘easy to write and say these things’ (even though it wasn’t easy or something I taken likely at all) but there is a big difference in saying ‘I’ll never tap again’ to then get caught in a knee bar with someone like Frank Mir hanging off your leg.

I’m not in that position and have only adopted this way of thinking recently so who knows, in the future I might be writing a blog about how and why I tapped. I don’t know.

All I know is that I’m not scared. If I have to write another blog in the future about me tapping and why I had to, either to stop my having leg or knee broken, or to stop me from dying in a fight, I’m not scared anymore because I will face up to these thing if they happen and look them straight in the eye. The willingness to do this, I believe, makes it less likely to happen and empowers me massively.

I’m now taking this this same approach in my life and its working out well. This is why I love MMA. I believe to be truly great you need to face your fears and let them enhance you.

Mind, body and soul…

 

 

This is the JRE that made me look at ‘tapping’ in a completely different light

 

 

Check out the LONDON REAL Podcast, where I talk about my ‘not to tap’ decision and  loads more

Thanks for reading my blog, please remember to ‘follow’ it for updates as to when the next one is posted before it hits the social media platforms.

My facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/James-The-Colossus-Thompson/199137513465142 &

My podcast Colossal Concerns on Itunes.  http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/colossal-concerns-podcast/id558622595

My twitter https://jp.twitter.com/JColossus

And finally my YouTube channel Colossalcollective  http://www.youtube.com/user/ColossalCollective

 

 

DISCLAIMER

Please note, the thoughts and opinions posted here are solely those of the author and do not represent those of anything linked or related. All content provided on this Colossalconcerns.com blog is for entertainment purposes only. The owner of this blog makes no representations as to the accuracy or completeness of any information on this site or found by following any link on this site. The owner of ColossalConcerns.com blog will not be liable for any errors or omissions in this information nor for the availability of this information. The owner will not be liable for any losses, injuries, or damages from the display or use of this information.  

Colossalconcerns.com is NOT the owner of any videos that are found  orembedded on this site. ALL VIDEOS on colossalconcerns.com are hosted by third party sites such as You Tube, Daily Motion, Novamov, Vimeo etc. Therefore all videos found on this site belong to their respective owners. Colossalconcerns.com DOES NOT CLAIM OWNERSHIP OF ANY AND ALL VIDEOS FOUND ON THIS SITE.

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When a Fighter gives up – Profile on Bob Sapp

This is a blog that has been sitting idle in the dark recesses of my mind. It has been pushed forward and inspired to see the cold light of day by a few events that have happened recently. Mainly a very recent interview I saw on ‘Mma hour by Ariel Helwani’. His guest on the show was Bob Sapp.

Here are three brief points as to why this blog was hidden in the deep recesses of the mush that passes as my mind for so long and why I didn’t do it sooner.

Number 1: I don’t like to ‘fighter bash’ and if you’re going to talk about Sapp you have to do that. Sapp and derogatory comments are like Siamese twins perpetually joined together.

Number 2: I like Sapp. Before & after our fight I talked to him…Well actually it’s more like he talked AT me! Way more than I would usually talk to an opponent or even a family member come to think of it! He’s not a bad person.

Number 3: I don’t like talking about things I’m not sure about, but after hearing the Mma Hour interview I felt like the final piece in a Jigsaw had been placed to complete the puzzle. I’m not saying I’m 100% right, how would anyone really know? But I believe I’ve got it fairly spot on.

So that’s some of the reason I haven’t done this blog sooner. Now back to the reasons I’m doing it now and the interview that kick started it.

I was interested in listening to the interview with Sapp as he takes a lot of flak (and quite rightly so) about the way he’s been fighting or not fighting as the case may be. I wanted to see how Ariel approached all this and wanted to hear Sapp’s responses.

What I’ve attempted to do in this blog is amalgamate 3 things… my experiences and conversations with Sapp, the evidence that is watching his fights and what was said in the interview with Ariel. The results are written before you.

Right here goes…

Sapp has beaten some great fighters and had some great fights in his career. At the start of his career he would’ve been getting paid VERY big money to fight and after listening to his interview on Mma Hour you can clearly hear how much value Sapp puts on money… Money is a massive, MASSIVE motivation for him. I don’t think I have to make this clear but I’ll write it any way. Sapp’s not fighting for the love of the sport.

After a fall out with K1 and thus not fighting in Japan there’s no doubt his money would have dropped off significantly. I think we need to try and remember how big of a star Sapp was in Japan. He was huge, the biggest! His face was plastered over lunch boxes, mouse mats, music (he sang songs and did music videos, released Albums that people actually bought over there) you name it Sapp’s image was on it. Even with all the ‘celebrity’ status he was enjoying back then in Japan, he did actually seem to put more effort into his fighting. Some might say not that well but if you compare it to now, back then he had the warrior’s heart of someone from the film 300. He turned up to fight, even winning when he’d been knocked down in some cases (e.g. his fight with Ernesto Hoost)

Let’s fast forward a little. Sapp has his issues with Japan. We then don’t see him for a bit, and then all of a sudden after disappearing for a while he’s back on the Mma scene. At this point Sapp has to face the fact that he’s not getting offered the money that he’s used to… not even close, but it is money none the less. As these facts are slowly sinking in I can imagine Sapp picturing all the hard training, all the punishment that he’ll have to endure, the sweat, blood and the pain he has to go through just to get that Win and collect what he now sees as a small amount of money. (Well it is in comparison to what he used to get paid in his hay day in Japan). As a fighter I can tell you that with all the hard fighting comes hard training, it’s unavoidable. A lot of people don’t realise the hardest part of a fight isn’t the actual fight itself; it’s the months of preparing for it… the training! Sapp knows this too which is why I think he came up with a plan from this point on.

A thought occurs to Sapp, a ‘loop hole’ of sorts. I think Sapp thinks to himself ‘What if I forget the training, blood, sweat and tears part, fast forward to the fight then simply give up & collect my cheque. I don’t care anymore I’m passed caring! Even though I’m not getting paid much I can do a lot of these sort of ‘give up’ fights, receive almost no damage before moving on to the next one and the next one and the next and so on’. After watching his last ten or so fights, talking to him and listening to his interview I’m pretty sure that this was and still is his thought process.

I realise you’re probably thinking to yourselves ‘Wait a minute James, you fought him’ and this is right I did and I will say this, I was totally disheartened to hear him talk on the Mma hour interview as it would seem clear that my DOUBLE LEG OF DOOM that I thought ended the fight due to it giving Sapp a crippling injury… Was in fact, I’m pretty safe in saying, Sapp just deciding to bloody well give up.

Now I fought Sapp at the first SFL in India back in March of this year. This fight was talked about and agreed at least 6 months before it happened; meaning Sapp’s ‘tap tour’ wasn’t in full swing as it is now. Myself and Sapp seemed like a good idea because in India they are into their WWE. As me and Sapp look like big wrestlers, it was thought that this would help the WWE fans relate to Mma and help in the cross over.
That’s why I felt bad for the SFL, because the fight was such an anti-climax!! I also felt bad as I was proud to be part of the SFL and in doing my bit to bring Mma to India. That fight didn’t show the new fans what Mma is all about. Quite the opposite in fact.

That’s the thing you see, Sapp is thinking about himself. He’s not thinking about MMA and how it might reflect badly on the sport. He’s not thinking about the fans or the organization that’s trying to make things happen. He’s thinking he’s not getting paid much (for him) so he can’t be assed. Like I said earlier Sapp’s not a bad guy, a little over bearing at times but not bad. But this is beside the point. Sapp’s made his mind up on which path he’s going to take and that path is no good for Mma no matter how much of a nice guy he might be.

So we’ve got Sapp not being assed because Mma so hard, training is so hard and the actual fight, guess what? Is so hard. He turns up leaving his pride and dignity at home, gets beaten, takes the loss and is then on a plane en route to the next one… and so it goes.

About Sapp… I don’t know him well by any stretch but I have talked to him about his past- the NFL, films, his future plans etc. etc. and this is the impression I’ve got of Sapp. He’s a man that’s been around, he been to the apex of the mountain. Sapp’s definitely got a big ego, he will even admit it. When he’s making these choices i.e. not fighting in fights, he’s getting a lot of abuse from fans all over the world and everyone who watches his fights. I’m sure some people that don’t even know him or what he does get an unexplainable urge to throw things at him due to the dark stormy cloud of abuse which must hang over his head, which is a collective mixture of karma and negativity . This can’t be pleasant even for a sado masochist, so instead of focusing on the fight he focuses and talks about the ‘YouTube numbers, the attendance, the promo’ he does before the fights. He’ll pretty much talk about anything that moves the concentration away from the fight and at the same time feeds his ego with talk about still being some a massive draw to his fights, even when he’s knows he’s going to lose all of them.

Sapp didn’t expect a tough interview, not because he didn’t review Ariel’s style of interview but just because HE CAN’T NOT do an interview. It keeps him in the public domain; it allows him to talk about himself. Interviews are attention, not everyone gets asked for interviews and Sapp feels it give him importance to do one. Sapp has to give interviews as it’s what ‘celebrities’ do and in Sapp’s mind he is as big a celeb today as he once was in Japan.

Having heard the interview I felt sad for Sapp, the constant laughing he was doing, I actually heard as crying (ahhhh) But at the same time I love Mma and he’s not in any way helping the sport.

The last thing I have to say on all this is that in the interview (which if you haven’t heard, is below) I thought Ariel was very patient and tried every which way to talk Sapp to give him a chance to get his side across but Sapp was in show mode. I believe Ariel did get one thing wrong though. He mentioned quite rightly that it was the promotions that were at fault for booking Sapp as they know what he’s about and that Sapp is just turtles up, gets his cheque and goes home paying no price. Where I feel Ariel got it wrong in this statement was where he said Sapp goes home paying no price. That’s wrong… Sapp does pays a price just like (and forgive me for wandering just ever so slightly off topic for a second ) I believe porn stars or prostitutes or any female working in the sex industry pay the ultimate price. How much is your pride & self-esteem worth?? Every time Sapp does what he does, he pays with little piece of his soul! I know that sounds dramatic, but it is true! It’s worth bearing in mind that Sapp’s persona is his own creation. He is a ‘joke’ because he chooses to be a ‘joke’, the fact that others now come along and call him a joke means nothing to him as he already gave himself that title way before everyone else started saying it about him. He’s self-aware, he knows what everyone thinks about him but he thought it about himself first so as long as he’s making money, he’ll keep doing it.: But it’s not without consequences as no matter who you are or how thick your skin is, it hurts when you’re talking to someone and you can tell they don’t rate you as a fighter. It hurts when your explain to people what went wrong, it hurts when you’re lying in bed at night trying to sleep going over and over the fights.

You could argue that ‘Sapp doesn’t care he’s made up his mind so it’s different in his case’ and it is to a point, but I’m telling you 110% he cares. Whether he admits it to himself or not, he cares. I could hear it in his voice sometimes when I was listening to his interview

So what’s to be done? Well whether it hurts or not, Sapp is going to taking these fights no matter what. Ariel was right when he said that it has to be known that we all get it now, the shows over move on folks nothing to see here. Now that we’re all aware of what the score is with Sapp, any promotion that deals with him has to be accountable in some way. That means the Fans have to make it clear to whoevers putting the show on that it’s not going to fly and it will tarnish the Mma organisation. In basic terms now it’s out there and we’re all talking about it, having Sapp doing his thing on a show damages the organisation more than it helps and we all need to take note of that.

One last thing, seeing this is a blog about Sapp that I’ll share with you as it was one of the most surreal experiences I’ve had. It was after we fought on the SFL show back in March. After the fight Sapp got on the same bus as me as we headed off to the after party. We were seated quite far away but he might as well been sat in my head as all I seemed to hear was his voice and laugh… that fucking laugh!!
Anyway we get to the door of the club. There’s an Indian lady waiting to talk and interview all the fighters about their fights etc. So the lady starts interviewing us all… but she doesn’t get too far because anyone who knows Sapp will know, that if there’s talking to be done then he’ll be the one doing it!
That’s right you guessed it… HE had the microphone and was interviewing each fighter about how their fight went and how they felt etc.!! As Sapp got inevitably closer to talk to me my thought process was ‘WTF!! This is to going happen’! The person I’ve just fought is going to be the person interviewing me about the fight!!’ Cue surrealism… I tried my best to talk Sapp through the fight he’d just had with myself, mentioning it was a shame it finished like it did due to his injured knee. He then tried to give me credit for the DOUBLE LEG OF DOOM that led to said injured knee. I explained to Sapp (my interviewer) ‘while that was true, no one likes to win like this and it’s was a bit of an anti-climax’ I can’t remember what he said back but it was bigging me up in some way. I then realised that I was arguing, some would say, his argument and he was arguing mine! My head was going to explode at this point and I wondered if I’d actually consumed mushrooms at any point.

HERE IS THE VIDEO LINK TO ARIEL HELWANI’S INTERVIEW WITH BOB SAPP

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaWL7c0U4mE&feature=related

** Now the second reason I wanted to do this blog goes back to something I noticed in Sapp’s fight with Pudzianowski, which got on my nerves such a massive amount that I wanted to point it out. First watch Pudz first loss against Tim Silva. He gets tired, he turns a deep shade of red and then throws himself on the floor and taps shortly afterwards. Now watch his first loss against me. In the second round of that fight I go for a double leg (no doom in this one- I hadn’t quite mastered that technique yet) I don’t really get the double leg very well. But guess what!?! Pudz has had enough and does a ‘Tim Silva special’ and doesn’t really resist the take down. The choke I got him with- while it was tight – wasn’t on completely, yet he taps. This is why you’ll see as I get up that I’m shocked.

Ok now let’s watch the Sapp fight, Sapp turtles with Pudz standing over him (like the fierce but honourable Polish warrior he wishes he was) landing punches. Sapp taps, surprise and what does Pudz do? Carries on punching… Why? Because he’s a bully. He knows he was going to get the Win; he just wanted to do what comes naturally to him… I.e. Bully. It’s so clear to me that when it’s put on him, he falls to the floor, doesn’t want to know and taps. When he’s got it ‘in the bag’ he wants to do extra damage just for the sake of it to make him look like the big man. Just thought I’d highlight this as I hate weak behaviour like this. Please let me know if you think I’ve got it wrong.

 

 

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