When people see or hear the term ‘mental warfare’, especially in combat sports, they’re generally going to assume that trash talking is being referenced. But in reality, there is a very different form of mental warfare that every athlete faces day in and day out that is discussed far less than the former.
Fighting is a physical activity. As is the case with every sport…unless you would like to get into a debate over eSports, but that’s an entirely different topic for an entirely different day.
When competing or performing in said athletic activities, the human body’s physical abilities are required to make it so that the person looking to achieve their goal can go out and do so.
However, this is a two-sided venture because to make the body perform, the mind must tell it to work. But what if the mind tells itself that its being isn’t good enough or questions itself? Then a whole new challenge is presented to overcome. The competitor is then no longer only competing against the obstacles in front of them, but themselves as well.
Having to go through making the escape from a literal war and battling through ostracization from the division’s very best on the largest platform of one’s career will definitely help build a diamond out of the pressure that comes with it. But as is the case for UFC strawweight veteran Randa ‘Quiet Storm’ Markos, self-doubt has always crept around the corners of her mind.
Continued (Full interview vid inside): EXCLUSIVE | Randa Markos and the undisclosed form of mental warfare | BJPenn.com
