has ever a fighter ever faked being unconfident?

[Rayban]

Rose

Was about to say this.

 

[pankrat]

Forrest, Vitor, and Okami all acted deferential like they didn't deserve to be in there with him. That's off the top of my head but it happens a lot when it comes to dominant champs. Half of Amanda's opponents since she became champ probably fit into that category. Val too.

I don't think anyone has ever done that and THEN switched to act like a Weidman or Pena once the door closes. If they did, I can't imagine how it would NOT fuck with the betting favorite's/champ's head a bit. I would love to see a fighter try doing it when they're the underdog.

100% BS.

Griffin looked just fine, definitely not scared of an opponent he outweighted by like 20lbs.

Okami is a quiet type who never looked that comfortable in front of a camera in the first place. The fact of the matter is he looked as sharp and focused as ever when the bell rang and was actually in route to win the first round until he took a head kick he didnt see coming with 5secs left. From that point, he started looking ultratentative. Thats not due to some pre-fight pshycological warfare or any other sherbro science, its due to a gap in skill, anthleticism and unpredictabiliy.

Saying Belfort was broken going into the fight with Silva due to psychologics is...more ridiculous shebro science. The guy was throwing hands with bad intentions as he always does, the difference is he wasnt used to his opponents dodging them with head movement the way Silva did.

This BS is basically a narrative pushed by GSP fanboys on sherbro in order to downplay Silva's competition/performances instead of acknowledging how far he was ahead of his competition in terms of fighting ability.

 

[ifindgifsforjackslack]

Act like a bitch become a bitch. Ie McGregor.

what’s the point of psychological warfare if you can literally grin at them in the fight because you have the belief you will destroy them? Unless you mean you fake being scared and also fake the I’m going to destroy you smile.

If you have that belief in yourself , show it and you may shake their confidence. If you have to fake the smile, it means your not confident, and acting’s just gunna shake up you instead IMO.


To actually answer ts question. Pete sell??? Faked being so scared he was cowering in defeat but was grinning on his back afterwards holding his chest laughing

 

[EnthusiastCultivator]

Gaethje seemed terrified of Khabib, even saying things like (I’m literally quoting him, not paraphrasing): “if one man can hold you down, 2 can rape you”, he’s already accepted the fact that he lost the moment he gets on the mat.

Even though I had him winning the 1st round, he looked frantic in there, it was pretty clear he would lose 2 minutes going into the fight. Just shows how tough Khabib is compared to these lightweights, just his aura put fear in the hearts of men.

 

[The Fat Mexican]

Rose Namajunas never looks overly confident (even seems shook sometimes) before beating up these girls

That's the best example that comes to mind

 

[Serge421]

CM Punk?

 

[TheTickG]

Jorge showed passivity right before KOing Askren's career. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it was timidity as a successful form of psychological warfare.

 

[Goldentrophy]

Let me explain... let's take Anderson Silva when he was MW king as an example.

Mentality #1: A bunch of contenders fighting him looked unconfident going in there, saying it was just an honor to share the cage with him blah blah blah. Their performances reflected them being deer in the headlights as he styled on them.

Mentality #2: Weidman didn't re-negotiate with the UFC prior to getting a title shot even though it was a guaranteed pay raise... he said he'd only renegotiate with them after fighting Anderson (which was the last fight on Weidman's contract). So basically he was so certain of victory that he bet his livelihood on it. He projected absolute confidence every step of the way.

We saw a similar pattern to Pena vs Nunes recently... Pena had mentality #2 as if she knew a secret that it was just a matter of time, something Amanda's other opponents didn't portray.

My question is if there has ever been an instance of a fighter with mentality #2 that intentionally displayed a mentality #1 solely for the sake of psychological warfare? In other words, act extremely timid and deferential to a champ as if you are expecting to die, then once the cage closes be overly aggressive/confident/assertive as soon as the fight starts.

If it has never been done before... do you think it could throw a champ off mentally if someone was to intentionally switch gears like that? Make them think they are in for an easy night in the lead up, only to charge forward on fight night with a confident smirk like you know it's over for them?

Which of his opponents displayed that? I just want to make sure being modest, friendly and humble yet confident that you will win isn't being misconstrued with being unconfident and just being happy to be there.

 

[Goldentrophy]

Maybe Blaydes/Lewis? Lewis was saying his usual stuff during the buildup and didn't really convince anyone that he was gonna beat Blaydes unless it's a lucky KO. This could've got to Blaydes's head during the fight.
Blaydes was messing Lewis up on the feet, got way too confident and went for a very telegraphed takedown with no setup while Lewis was clearly loading up the uppercut.
This might be due more to Blaydes having A LOT of bad fight IQ moments in most of his bouts.

Stipe/Ngannou(1st fight). Stipe was the underdog and didn't talk much during the buildup, many believed Ngannou(himself included) would steamroll the champ with ease.
Quite the opposite happened and this was a learning lesson for Ngannou. That's just normal Stipe though, he's always been pretty quiet when his opponent is getting hyped up like crazy.

Ferguson/Gaethje. Justin is very accepting of the possibility of losing and wasn't used to short camps. He praised Tony waaay more in the buildup than himself from what I remember.
Justin got to the fight, stuck to a solid plan, controlled the pace and battered Ferguson for 5 rounds.
Tony was super confident leading up to this, way more than Justin and what proves this is him compromising himself with the double weight-cut.
Maybe not intentional, but Justin did not seem too confident pre-fight from what I remember and that might have gone to Tony's head.

Poirier/McGregor 2 would be a great example, but I think Dustin naturally displayed being unconfident and nervous during the buildup.
So this wouldn't be considered intentional, that being said it did give Conor the impression that Dustin was gonna crumble in "60 seconds" and that fucked him mentally when Dustin showed resistance in the cage.

Sorry if I don't have more or more clear answers, it's pretty difficult to find any.
Interesting question though.

This

 

[Pious Augustus]

Let me explain... let's take Anderson Silva when he was MW king as an example.

Mentality #1: A bunch of contenders fighting him looked unconfident going in there, saying it was just an honor to share the cage with him blah blah blah. Their performances reflected them being deer in the headlights as he styled on them.

Mentality #2: Weidman didn't re-negotiate with the UFC prior to getting a title shot even though it was a guaranteed pay raise... he said he'd only renegotiate with them after fighting Anderson (which was the last fight on Weidman's contract). So basically he was so certain of victory that he bet his livelihood on it. He projected absolute confidence every step of the way.

We saw a similar pattern to Pena vs Nunes recently... Pena had mentality #2 as if she knew a secret that it was just a matter of time, something Amanda's other opponents didn't portray.

My question is if there has ever been an instance of a fighter with mentality #2 that intentionally displayed a mentality #1 solely for the sake of psychological warfare? In other words, act extremely timid and deferential to a champ as if you are expecting to die, then once the cage closes be overly aggressive/confident/assertive as soon as the fight starts.

If it has never been done before... do you think it could throw a champ off mentally if someone was to intentionally switch gears like that? Make them think they are in for an easy night in the lead up, only to charge forward on fight night with a confident smirk like you know it's over for them?

Brandon Moreno before his first fight against DF

 

[Worthmore]

Rose Namajunas always seems to lack confidence but still delivers

 

[Gamer2k4]

there is still to this day a HUGE amount of posters on here that will argue with you for hours, insisting not just the first but BOTH fights were "flukes"

talking to people like them has taught me that all people are in fact NOT equal. some are just smarter than others and not everyones opinion is important

There were a lot of factors in play, and maybe Silva wasn't going to win anyway; he always had tons of trouble with fighters he couldn't goad into a brawl. Still there's no denying that Anderson was clowning more than usual in the first fight, and a fight ending by complete leg break is flukey no matter who you are. (Yes, Chris was doing everything right to make the break happen. But fighters check kicks all the time without breaking their opponents' legs.)

 

[Gamer2k4]

Rose Namajunas never looks overly confident (even seems shook sometimes) before beating up these girls

That's the best example that comes to mind

I think that's more because she looks 13 and we know she has mental issues. Even when she's screaming "I'm the best" she looks like she's about to cry.

 

[Gamer2k4]

Jorge showed passivity right before KOing Askren's career. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it was timidity as a successful form of psychological warfare.

I don't think he looked timid at all. He looked relaxed, when is about as far away from timid as you can be when it comes to a cage fight.

Stipe's the same way. Whenever they show him walking into the arena, he looks like he's on his way to run his morning errands and just ended up in the wrong place. But I'd argue that's a sign of supreme confidence, not an absence of it.

 

[amok attitude]

I think that's more because she looks 13 and we know she has mental issues. Even when she's screaming "I'm the best" she looks like she's about to cry.

Lmao

 

[Dionysian]

Which of his opponents displayed that? I just want to make sure being modest, friendly and humble yet confident that you will win isn't being misconstrued with being unconfident and just being happy to be there.

Again, just tossing it off the top of my head but Forrest, Vitor, and Okami.

This position that no one was intimidated fighting Anderson when he was undisputed is new/weird to me. Everyone in the past conceded it happened to opponents of Anderson/Fedor/Val/Amanda/etc.

Act like a bitch become a bitch. Ie McGregor.

what’s the point of psychological warfare if you can literally grin at them in the fight because you have the belief you will destroy them? Unless you mean you fake being scared and also fake the I’m going to destroy you smile.

If you have that belief in yourself , show it and you may shake their confidence. If you have to fake the smile, it means your not confident, and acting’s just gunna shake up you instead IMO.


To actually answer ts question. Pete sell??? Faked being so scared he was cowering in defeat but was grinning on his back afterwards holding his chest laughing

The reason you'd do it is because it could very well rattle someone to sandbag them... they think they're in for an easy night and then you're immediately taking them down/crushing them with contempt. That'd be a hell of a 180 to the betting favorite/champ/the guy whose lives and breathes confidence, a confidence which has been artificially inflated by your sales pitch of weakness.

If even half the BS told about Jones was true regarding training half-assed when he doesn't see his opponent as being dangerous (Santos, Reyes etc etc) that is another reason to do it... to increase the chance they'll not train as hard so you can steamroll them even worse.

Interesting take on Sell... that is probably a great choice for that whole dynamic boiled into 3 seconds. I was thinking more long term (act scared in the lead-up/promotional portion, then once the fight starts do a 180).

100% BS.

Griffin looked just fine, definitely not scared of an opponent he outweighted by like 20lbs.

Okami is a quiet type who never looked that comfortable in front of a camera in the first place. The fact of the matter is he looked as sharp and focused as ever when the bell rang and was actually in route to win the first round until he took a head kick he didnt see coming with 5secs left. From that point, he started looking ultratentative. Thats not due to some pre-fight pshycological warfare or any other sherbro science, its due to a gap in skill, anthleticism and unpredictabiliy.

Saying Belfort was broken going into the fight with Silva due to psychologics is...more ridiculous shebro science. The guy was throwing hands with bad intentions as he always does, the difference is he wasnt used to his opponents dodging them with head movement the way Silva did.

This BS is basically a narrative pushed by GSP fanboys on sherbro in order to downplay Silva's competition/performances instead of acknowledging how far he was ahead of his competition in terms of fighting ability.

Dude relax, I'm not even a GSP fan and you're being way too defensive.

The #1 cause of lack of confidence isn't "sherbro science" ... it is based on exactly what you just said: a skill gap. Same reason why Mitrione was super-cocky against Slice. The fact you point out Anderson was more skilled than people he fought, then double back and say no one was intimidated pre-fight contradicts each other. People were intimidated precisely because they knew Anderson was supremely skilled. Same thing happened to opponents of Amanda, Val, Fedor, etc.

Also, your stance that NO contenders were nervous/tentative against Anderson is one I have literally never heard before in all my time posting on Sherdog.

Rose Namajunas never looks overly confident (even seems shook sometimes) before beating up these girls

That's the best example that comes to mind

Yeah but that is just her personality / not intentionally done to deceive her opponent. I'm talking about doing it tactically.

There were a lot of factors in play, and maybe Silva wasn't going to win anyway; he always had tons of trouble with fighters he couldn't goad into a brawl. Still there's no denying that Anderson was clowning more than usual in the first fight, and a fight ending by complete leg break is flukey no matter who you are. (Yes, Chris was doing everything right to make the break happen. But fighters check kicks all the time without breaking their opponents' legs.)

Why do you think he was clowning so much in the 1st fight though? And especially at precisely the point he did. He didn't clown at the start of the fight. It was only after losing the start of the fight that he tried plan B (clowning) which of course didn't end well either. That fight was a clear example of someone putting on fake exaggerated confidence (dramatic clowning) in an attempt to get their opponent to fuck up (Chris didn't) because plan A didn't work (Anderson was getting taken down/was taking multiple shots he normally avoided/couldn't land anything of significance)

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Anderson did everything possible to try and duck Weidman.

I know that doesn't answer your question. Just felt like reminding Anderson fans.

He should have done a better job at it.

 

[fedorthegoat777]

Let me explain... let's take Anderson Silva when he was MW king as an example.

Mentality #1: A bunch of contenders fighting him looked unconfident going in there, saying it was just an honor to share the cage with him blah blah blah. Their performances reflected them being deer in the headlights as he styled on them.

Mentality #2: Weidman didn't re-negotiate with the UFC prior to getting a title shot even though it was a guaranteed pay raise... he said he'd only renegotiate with them after fighting Anderson (which was the last fight on Weidman's contract). So basically he was so certain of victory that he bet his livelihood on it. He projected absolute confidence every step of the way.

We saw a similar pattern to Pena vs Nunes recently... Pena had mentality #2 as if she knew a secret that it was just a matter of time, something Amanda's other opponents didn't portray.

My question is if there has ever been an instance of a fighter with mentality #2 that intentionally displayed a mentality #1 solely for the sake of psychological warfare? In other words, act extremely timid and deferential to a champ as if you are expecting to die, then once the cage closes be overly aggressive/confident/assertive as soon as the fight starts.

If it has never been done before... do you think it could throw a champ off mentally if someone was to intentionally switch gears like that? Make them think they are in for an easy night in the lead up, only to charge forward on fight night with a confident smirk like you know it's over for them?

I didn't know Weidman refused to renegotiate his contract till after fighting Silva. That is crazy.

 

[Ken Fresno]

Let me explain... let's take Anderson Silva when he was MW king as an example.

Mentality #1: A bunch of contenders fighting him looked unconfident going in there, saying it was just an honor to share the cage with him blah blah blah. Their performances reflected them being deer in the headlights as he styled on them.

Mentality #2: Weidman didn't re-negotiate with the UFC prior to getting a title shot even though it was a guaranteed pay raise... he said he'd only renegotiate with them after fighting Anderson (which was the last fight on Weidman's contract). So basically he was so certain of victory that he bet his livelihood on it. He projected absolute confidence every step of the way.

We saw a similar pattern to Pena vs Nunes recently... Pena had mentality #2 as if she knew a secret that it was just a matter of time, something Amanda's other opponents didn't portray.

My question is if there has ever been an instance of a fighter with mentality #2 that intentionally displayed a mentality #1 solely for the sake of psychological warfare? In other words, act extremely timid and deferential to a champ as if you are expecting to die, then once the cage closes be overly aggressive/confident/assertive as soon as the fight starts.

If it has never been done before... do you think it could throw a champ off mentally if someone was to intentionally switch gears like that? Make them think they are in for an easy night in the lead up, only to charge forward on fight night with a confident smirk like you know it's over for them?

Interestingly enough, the best example of this may have actually happened against Anderson.

 

[Talon81]

Forrest, Vitor, and Okami all acted deferential like they didn't deserve to be in there with him. That's off the top of my head but it happens a lot when it comes to dominant champs. Half of Amanda's opponents since she became champ probably fit into that category. Val too.

I don't think anyone has ever done that and THEN switched to act like a Weidman or Pena once the door closes. If they did, I can't imagine how it would NOT fuck with the betting favorite's/champ's head a bit. I would love to see a fighter try doing it when they're the underdog.

Griffin, absolutely. okami, sure..
Anderson absolutely clowned Vitor, but I don't know what you were seeing to think that Vitor was not confident leading up to it. Even his in cage performance seemed very confident leading up to getting his ass KO'd

EDIT: just realized this was already discussed in here.