Iron chins and crazy underdog comebacks...

My first MMA coach used to say, "You can't buy a heart at Ringside."

In other words: no amount of money can give you 'that thing' which makes you eat a punch and keep pushing forward, or peel yourself off the mat when you can't see straight, or the thing that keeps you standing when your wind has been knocked out...

I always liked when he said that to me. He was telling me that I had something which couldn't be bought... and perhaps couldn't even be built.

To be honest, I don't know if you can build heart. I've just always blindly stomped forwards, looking for my next opportunity to hit the guy hitting me.

One thing that I can say for certain is that Fatigue and Fear have no place in combat. Both with erode your heart.

Build your cardio, and in the words of Journey: Don't Stop... Believing.

That's right...

Watch this Muay Thai guy get absolutely flattened, and then weather a storm of punches, before managing to turn the tidet.

***a technique note*** if you floor your opponent and it's time to Finish Him, don't just alternate punches! Right - Left - Right - Left - Right - Left... NOOOO!

Throw two right hands in a row, go randomly between the head and body, throw a damn KICK in there, or whatever. The absolute easiest thing to defend is a series of over-exuberate sequential rights-and-lefts, and the above fight could have been overrrr if this simple note was followed.

Back to belief and heart and stuff...

That guy wouldn't have stood up and starting firing back, if he didn't believe in his ability to win... but of course, how does one practice 'believing'?

An obnoxiously deep question indeed...

My belief? Adversity.

When you've 'been there' before, and you've battled through 'it', you develop a respect for yourself that eliminates fear. It can eliminate reasonable doubt.

I remember getting punched one time and the floor turned diagonally... I felt like I was getting poured off the the earth... or like I had suddenly been dropped on the side of a hill.

Even after being punched many more times during that specific fight, I still honestly have no idea what it's like to be knocked out.

All I know is that when I get hit in the head and I get a little case of deja vu, or feel like I'm in a fish bowl for a second, I think to myself, "This ain't shit. Being on that hill is worse."

Experiencing your limits makes you aware of them.

So perhaps experience builds 'heart' after all... the jury is still deliberating.

Speaking of refusing to succumb to knockouts...

The notion of having an 'iron jaw', or just in general 'being hard to knock out' has always fascinated me. This is definitely something that is both a 'gift' and also 'earned'.

Some people just have brains that refuse to shut off. Others have built necks so strong that their brains get sloshed around a fraction of the 'normal' amount.

It's fascinating regardless.

Interestingly enough, this ability does seem to fade over time. While initially, it's good to test your limits, doing so regularly will cost you the ability to take a punch.

As you're about to see, it's happened to the best chins in the business: when your brain begins to be injured, it does NOT get 'stronger'.

Here's a pretty darn good video on 'good chins that got cracked'.

Here's the comment section...

Humans like to talk about things.

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