Anthony Pettis on the virtues of Taekwondo

Some mixed martial arts fans can be dismissive of traditional martial arts, but there's a lot that can be taken from these arts and incorporated into MMA and life. In terms of MMA, an important tool can be the element of surprise. People are expecting wrestling, Muay Thai, boxing, and Jiu Jitsu. But if you can pull out something from another martial art that you have mastered over time, perfected to the core; then that can really throw opponents off and possibly knock them out. Nobody expects a reverse elbow like Anderson Silva used. And nobody anticipated a kick off the cage like Anthony Pettis landed against Ben Henderson, which won him their first fight. The element of surprise is a strong element.

Speaking of Pettis, he speaks extremely high of taekwondo in another sense: the values it teaches. Some MMA gyms have gained in effectiveness in fighting over traditional martial arts clubs, but sometimes what they have lost is the respect, honor, discipline, and other values which are embedded into traditional martial arts styles. Pettis explained to Fight Magazine that the philosophy of taekwondo is what allowed him to overcome the overwhelming emotions he was afflicted with when he lost his father due to murder, when Pettis was 16. “When you get in taekwondo, it teaches you the life skills of respect, self control, discipline—that’s why I love it. I really attribute those skills to really getting over my dad’s death. If I didn’t have that, I would have lost it.”

A martial art which can have that type of impact is unbelievable, even if many of the techniques of combat aren't able to be used effectively inside the cage. And in life it's more important to have those values inside yourself than to be able strike someone into unconsciousness. Ideally, you can have both the high level of respect and skill, and certainly a big segment of MMA fighters fall into this category. However, there is definitely room for improvement, and I think that will change as time progresses and coaches instill more values from traditional martial arts styles into their programs. Somebody who is on board with that type of mentality is famed Canadian coach Firas Zahabi, who leads Tristar gym in Montreal, home to Georges St-Pierre and Rory MacDonald. Zahabi noted in an interview with the Fight Network:

In MMA, the culture, it needs more respect. Because you're taking these young kids and you're making them killers; you're making them tough, you're making them strong, so when they go out in society, they're tough and the become bullies. Martial arts, for me anyways, is to fight the bullies, it's to stop the bullying, it's to teach the younger kids to defend themselves against the bullies; not to become the bullies.

A successful melding of traditional martial arts values and new age martial arts techniques for MMA will be on the horizon as the sport progresses into its third decade in North America.



 

8 feelings of peak performance

In the book Warrior Speed by Ted Weimann, he illuminates us on the concept of peak performance and being the zone, but speaking to the eight peak performance feelings, which are being:

 

Just oft the top of my head comes an image of one mixed martial artist: Anderson Silva. Sure we witnessed Silva be knocked out for taking his clowning a bit too far against Chris Weidman; but aside from that, in some of his other fights, such as his bout with Forrest Griffin, you see him display all these traits. Anderson Silva is mentally relaxed, physically relaxed (hands down), highly confident and optimistic that he will succeed, focused in the present moment, highly energized, has extraordinary awareness, is in complete control, and seems to just let go to the process and allow the training to take over. Everything he does in the cage from the antics to the killer blows, he practices. Some other mixed martial artists give their take on being "in the zone":

 

The psychology of dressing well and looking good

A lot of people feel that creates a positive mindset, a feeling of increased self-esteem, self-worth, and generally optimistic mindset both on a conscious and subconscious level. So that in turn generates greater positive results.

A Forbes article in 2012 makes reference to this concept:

A study this year from Northwestern University examined a concept called “enclothed cognition.” Researchers define it in their report as “the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes,” meaning what your clothes are saying to you, not about you. And how they make you feel.

Sharp dressers such as a Georges St-Pierre, Eddie Alvarez, Anthony Pettis, and Rory MacDonald, try and zero in on this fashion psychological phenomenon.

3 Fighters that can win UFC titles in 2 divisions

Randy Couture and BJ Penn made history in the UFC by being the only two fighters win titles in two different weight categories. Who has the best chance to be the third on to do it? These three:

1. Jon Jones

Jon Jones has already won the UFC light-heavyweight title and defended it five times. If he can get past Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165 in Toronto in September, then he will own the record for most title defenses at 205 and surpass Tito Ortiz. From there if Jon Jones wants to make a run at the UFC heavyweight title, then he certainly has a very good chance to do so and become a two-division UFC champion. He can accomplish the lofty ask that Brandon Vera set out to do: win the light-heavyweight title and then move up to heavyweight and grab that too.

2. Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo has won the UFC featherweight title and been the most dominant 145er in the sport's history. He has a win over the former UFC lightweight champion in Frankie Edgar, so he is more than capable with hanging alongside the upper echelon of 155ers in the UFC.

3. Anthony Pettis

Anthony Pettis was set to fight Jose Aldo for the featherweight title but was forced out due to injury. Now he's fighting for the UFC lightweight title against Benson Henderson. He had a great shot against Jose Aldo and also has a tremendous chance to defeat Ben Henderson to win the lightweight belt, as he did so in 2010 to win the WEC gold at 155.

UFC 164: T.J Grant Injured, Anthony Pettis to take on Ben Henderson

Anthony Pettis has had a long strong road to the UFC lightweight title. "Showtime" was originally given a shot at the belt when he defeated Benson Henderson in December 2010 to win the WEC title. After the WEC merged into the UFC, Pettis was scheduled to take on the winner of the rematch between Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar, which took place at the beginning of 2011.But since the fight turned out to be a draw, the two were granted a third fight immediately by UFC president Dana White. Anthony Pettis decided he wasn't going to wait around to fight in the UFC and took on Clay Guida, a fight he would lose by decision.

Oddly enough, the man Pettis defeated to earn the title shot, Benson Henderson, would go on to win three straight impressively in the UFC, get his title shot, win the belt and defend it three times. But Pettis did bounce back with three wins of his own over Jeremy Stephens, Joe Lauzon, and Donald Cerrone. Pettis then campaigned for a title shot against Jose Aldo at 145, and was granted his wish, only to get injured and have to pull out. But now with T.J. Grant suffering a concussion injury in practice, Anthony Pettis is in to take on Ben Henderson at UFC 164 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee on August 31st.

This long and unusual road for Anthony Pettis is something that is a very interesting one. He finally gets his title shot, and it's against the man he originally fought to earn it. Henderson is ecstatic about the rematch and can try and put the loss behind him and the memories and reminders about Anthony Pettis' famous "Showtime kick" off the cage which landed on Bendo in that fight in the fifth round, and was the deciding factor in Pettis getting the judges' decision.

Also on the UFC 164 card:

Josh Barnett vs Frank Mir
Clay Guida vs Chad Mendes
Erik Koch vs Dustin Poirier
Ben Rothwell vs Brandon Vera
Gleison Tibau vs Jamie Varner

Anthony Pettis on being in the zone

Anthony "Showtime" Pettis describes the zone he gets into when making his way to fight in the UFC Octagon:
When I walk out, I get into this zone when I look into the Octagon and things just blur. I zoom in on my opponent, and I don't take my eyes off him until my hand's raised.