Top Five Ways Mental Toughness Makes You Win Combat Sports

Most people think you can win and be successful in combat sports if you train harder, build your muscles, and learn different moves and techniques. But this is a misconception. No one knows how crucial it is to have mental toughness to win in combat sports. Mental strength is more necessary than physical strength.

You must have heard the famous saying:

The quote focuses on mental training. It suggests preparing yourself mentally before any fight or facing any challenge in life. If you can't prepare yourself to fight alone (or if you don't have mental toughness), you can't make yourself win in any fight.

If you don’t have the mental power to calm yourself down in a pressure situation, you can't win. The main reason why many martial artists lose the matches despite training harder is that they do not focus on mental training. Mental toughness or training is as important as physical training for a successful combat sports career.

Michael Jordan is a former American Basketball player. He was one of the biggest players in Basketball history, winning six Basketball championships (NBA) in his career. An interviewer once asked Michael Jordan a question about how he prepares himself mentally for a match. He responded with a focus on mental toughness:

He also explained how he tricks his mind to convert his weaknesses into match-winning strengths. He said you have to trick your mind into believing you can do that and achieve your goal. If you win in doing that, then you will do that in real life and eventually achieve your goals with mental toughness.

Following are the top five ways mental toughness can make you win matches in combat sports.

This is the biggest advantage that mental toughness gives to a person. You can't always be dominant in any part of the game. There are ups and downs in life. The same is the case with combat sports. Sometimes, you win the game, and sometimes, you lose. You have to stay calm in every situation, and that is only possible if you are mentally tough. 

Have you ever wondered why a fighter who was getting dominated by the opponent won in the final part of the game while watching a combat sport? The sole reason is “Mental Toughness”. Let’s see an example of this:

In 2010, Anderson Silva played against Leon Edwards in UFC 217. Usman was dominant throughout the game and comfortably won. However, Leon displayed mental toughness and did not hold himself down under pressure. He won the match in the last minute. This goes in one of the most famous wins in UFC history. 

The best way to prepare yourself before a match is to analyze your opponent. You can do visualization for mental toughness. In visualization, you analyzed your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. According to that, you prepare your moves and techniques against that opponent. 

Conor McGregor once said while talking about mental toughness and visualization:

You can train yourself in mind that when your opponent throws that particular move, then you will respond to him in that way. This is visualization. By doing that, you appear mentally prepared for the fighting day. It develops mental toughness. 

On the fighting day, you know all of your opponent’s favorite moves and techniques that he will be using. You also know how you will respond to him in all of his favorite moves. You don’t puzzle during the match, and this is how mental toughness makes you win matches by doing visualization. 

Mental toughness builds confidence in yourself. You do self-reflection. You don’t make over expectations of yourself. You just analyze yourself and see your weaknesses and strengths. You track your performance. Once you realize your weaknesses, you start working on them and converting them into strengths. 

Once you train hard, you start building confidence to win the fight. If you have mental toughness, you do not talk negatively with yourself and develop a positive mindset. You focus on winning and not getting a defeat. 

You must have heard the famous saying:

Khabib Abdulmanapovich Nurmagomedov was one of the famous mixed martial artists (MMA). He played in the lightweight division in UFC. Once Khabib was asked how did he feel when he became champion, his answer shows the importance of mental toughness:

Setbacks are a part of every game. You can't win all the time. You get defeated. You make wins. But one defeat doesn't mean you can't fight anymore or you can't win anymore. You have to be positive all the time, even after losing. This is only possible if you have mental toughness.

You see your mistakes; you improve yourself and make a match-winning comeback. This type of mindset is developed by mental toughness. You have to train your mind so that you don’t despair after losing one game. You must have the courage to pick yourself up and fight against it. 

Have you ever seen any fighter in the history of combat sports who never got defeated and won all the games in his career? The answer should be No. This is because you only become successful by learning; there is no greater teacher than failure. After failure, you have to learn what failed you. It builds mental toughness.

You have to analyze yourself. You have to keep a positive mindset all the time, and with each failure, you are learning something different. This can only happen if you have mental toughness.

If you start thinking negatively every time you start doing anything, you may have wondered why this is the case with you. Why do you have a negative mindset? You can't control your thoughts. You may be surrounded by the people who demotivate you. Environment affects people. You can't have mental toughness with such an environment and people who demotivates you.

The only way through this is to start having control of your mind. Develop mental toughness. Start thinking positively, no matter how impossible it looks. 

Determination and perseverance are key things that keep you on the path to success. If you lose these two things, you will no longer be on the success road. No matter how confident you are, if you don’t have the determination to do work, you can't be successful. You can't develop mental toughness. You can only walk on that path for a few days. 

This develops through mental toughness. Mental toughness develops determination and perseverance in a person and keeps him on the right path. When you have determination, you will work hard toward that direction and eventually achieve your goal. You will start winning matches. 

You must have wondered what distinguishes those who are always winning and those who cannot make their mark. What is the common thing that unites all the champions’ minds? Hard work? Training harder and longer? Working day and night to achieve goals? Or just luck? None of them all. It is about mental toughness and strength. It is the belief and confidence you must have before facing any challenge in life or fighting any combat sport. 

Let’s take the example of Muhammad Ali. He was one of “The Greatest of All Time” (GOAT) boxers. He retained the heavyweight title for almost six years. He was one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. It was the mental toughness that got him to that level of greatness. It was his determination. He trained his mind to reach greatness.

Imagine a young man from Louisville, Kentucky, United States, born with an indomitable Spirit. His name is Cashous Clay, but the world would know him as Muhammad Ali, known for his incredible speed, unique fighting style, mental toughness, and Unapologetic confidence. Ali's journey is more than a story of boxing. It's a story of mental toughness, resilience, and standing up for one's beliefs.

Ali wasn't born a champion. He became one through grit at 12. He started boxing after someone stole his bike, and he told a police officer he'd whip whoever did it. Instead, he was introduced to boxing from that moment. He trained with Fierce determination. Ali was fast, almost dancing in the ring, famously saying float like a butterfly sting like a bee, as Ali did in the boxing world, and so did the challenges. Critics doubted his ability.

In 1964, before playing against Sonny Liston, he said:

The following five things make up mental toughness.

• Staying calm in a pressure situation.

• Analytical skills.

• Confidence in your abilities.

• Positive mindset and resilience.

• Determination and perseverance.

Yes, you need to develop mental toughness to win matches. Without that, you can't win. Mental strength and toughness are more important than physical strength for winning matches. Most people ignore that and only focus on developing physical strength. 

Mental toughness makes you win matches by developing a positive mindset, building confidence in your abilities, and having determination and perseverance.

You can prepare yourself mentally by analyzing your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. You should do “visualization”. By doing that, you imagine yourself mentally in a match you will be playing. 

You prepare all the moves and techniques you will use in the coming match against that particular opponent. Once you have done mental preparation by visualization, you will be confident in the coming match, which will help you secure the victory through mental toughness.

Both are important for winning in combat sports. But almost all fighters train harder and become physically strong. It is the mental toughness that distinguishes you from other fighters. 

Through mental toughness, you can predict your opponent’s moves and plan your moves accordingly. The mental strength makes you win matches, even in a losing situation. You stay calm in a pressure situation. In all that, mental toughness and strength matters.