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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?
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?