has ever a fighter ever faked being unconfident?

[sadowolf]

Good take.

I think that is precisely why only a SUPER confident fighter would have the psychological flexibility available to FAKE being super unconfident. To him it is all about tactics to steamroll his opponent/the optics of other people are irrelevant to him. Well, except for psyching out his actual opponent, which is obviously important to him ha.

Interestingly, he'd also be aware of the optics AFTER the fight, once everyone realizes they were taken for a ride. That'd be something to revel in as well.

Same reason you train before a fight... to maximize your chances to destroy the other guy. See above. I actually think only a legitimately super confident person would be able to pull off the tactical act of faking super unconfidence.

I for one would absolutely love to see that haha. A fighter so confident that they don't care about being perceived as weak. Or just a fighter with such a DGAF attitude; I feel like if Forrest was a better fighter it's something he might've pulled off. I remember him talking about basically being afraid to fight Jones and glad he never has to, and it would've been so crazy to hear him say that, see him look like he has no confidence in winning, and then go out there and trash Jones. Definitely wasn't good enough for that though haha. But we see acts of sandbagging all the time in life, where someone essentially plays humble so they can dazzle later. It'd be insane to see it an an actual fight with so much on the line.

 

[pankrat]

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.

I didnt say they weren't tentative. They were. Not knowing when and where a devastating shot is coming from can make that to you, but that'ts skill, it's fighting ability.

You were talking about pre-fight "psychological warfares" or that "guys looked unconfident going in there"...going in there? Like based on their facial expression or something? That's the BS Im calling sherbro science.

The examples that people uses the most in these cases are Griffin/Okami and again, their expression, their tentativeness, everything, changes dramatically the moment they were dropped with a hard shot that they didnt even remotely saw coming. Until that point they were just fine. That was the turning point, not some alleged pschological sherbroscience BS coming into the fight

Forrest, Vitor, and Okami all acted deferential like they didn't deserve to be in there with him.

This is simply not true

 

[pankrat]

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.

BS.
Watch the fights.
In every case the turning point is Silva landing a hard shot that his opponent didnt even remotelt saw coming. Until that point, Vitor, just like Okami or Forrest, were just fine and 100% focused.

This talk about they not looking confident going into the fight based on some facial expression or alleged psychological warfares is nº1 sherbro science BS

 

[Talon81]

BS.
Watch the fights.
In every case the turning point is Silva landing a hard shot that his opponent didnt even remotelt saw coming. Until that point, Vitor, just like Okami or Forrest, were just fine and 100% focused.

This talk about they not looking confident going into the fight based on some facial expression or alleged psychological warfares is nº1 sherbro science BS

The only one I said was shook before the fight was Forrest. I argued vitor and didn't really have an opinion on Okami. I can't help it if you can't read body language or facial expressions. Nobody can 100%, but there are always indicators.

I stand by that. If you don't, good for you. I hope your insistence that people can't be read serves you well in life.

 

[MadNIghtKing]

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?

It’s hard to tell if it’s intentional or not. But plenty of occurrences where during fight week fighters will look a little nervous and unsure. But when you see them in the octagon for the fight they look zoned in and ready to go.

I think Derrick Lewis does this on purpose for sure because he’ll even act hurt in a fight to get someone to charge him.

 

[RogerB08]

I think Anderson was tired. That belt gets heavy after 7 years.

 

[pankrat]

The only one I said was shook before the fight was Forrest. I argued vitor and didn't really have an opinion on Okami. I can't help it if you can't read body language or facial expressions. Nobody can 100%, but there are always indicators.

I stand by that. If you don't, good for you. I hope your insistence that people can't be read serves you well in life.

Well you said "Okami, sure", hence my reply.

Forrest himself shared his take on the fight, says he got shooked by a hard counter during the fight that didnt even saw coming. Thats the point from where he didnt really know what to do. Not before.

Making assumptions based on"body language" from your couch is funny and its ok, this is a forum after all but dont make mistake, its pure sherbro speculation.

On the other hand, there are countless examples where you could tell a guy looks nervous/uncomfortable leading up to the cage, or just in front of a camera, or even in the face off where he looks away from his opponent, and then he performs just fine or even great.... because the guy in front of him is not tagging him with punches/kicks/knees that cant predict or doesnt even see coming. Thats what matters here and its the turning point in all those fights you mentioned, no pre-fight body language pseudo science.

 

[biscuitsbrah]

Nah that’s like a movie or anime trope or something. You go in acting like that it will transfer over into your fight. The closest is fedor and Aldo not looking into their opponents eyes right before the fight, but that’s more being humble and stuff than faking weakness

 

[Prutfis]

has ever a fighter ever faked being unconfident?