Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Training: Overcoming Nervousness

I'd played nearly 100 football games, wrestled about 500 matches and boxed a few dozen bouts before my first MMA fight at age 32, so I wasn't too anxious entering the cage that first time. When the gate closed behind me, I had an eerily comfortable feeling that I was exactly where I wanted to be. It wasn't always that way, though. Not by a long shot.

In my formative years as a combative athlete I experienced my share of gut-wrenching nervousness before competitions. Moments before my early wrestling matches my thoughts were an excruciating swirl of aggression, self-doubt and fear of cowardice. Wracked with anxiety during those early bouts, I abandoned technique, failed to see scoring opportunities, and couldn't distinguish my coach's voice from the noise of the crowd. On the football field, I was no less keyed up. Not once, but twice at the outset of a game, I was so tightly wound in anticipation of the first snap of the ball that I threw up on the offensive tackle across the line of scrimmage.

Nerves. Butterflies. Jitters. Whatever the term, every fighter has experienced those sensations to some degree. In this column I'll enlist the help of a few professional fighters in addressing two of the most common questions I receive at seminars throughout the country from young competitors. 

When I have a fight scheduled, how do I avoid obsessing about it in the preceding weeks to the point where I get overanxious and overtrain? 

Clearly there's no substitute for experience in avoiding undue nervousness before a fight. Poised for his UFC debut, Eric Wray (9-0, 7 submissions) from San Jose's esteemed American Kickboxing Academy notes, "Every fight is a learning experience. You take something away from the last fight and apply that knowledge to the next." Familiarity with the combative arena, confidence in your training regimen and an awareness of your body's requirements all come with competitive experience and each is essential to developing a professional, workman-like approach to fight preparation.