For many fans and others who aren’t up close and personal with the lives and professions of fighters, it can sometimes seem as though MMA/UFC is all about getting angry. The throwing of punches and the constant raging in the ring can easily be misinterpreted as anger – and it’s easy to see why.
However, as any MMA/UFC fighter or fan will tell you, anger can actually be a highly destructive force when it comes to doing well in the ring. In fact, MMA/UFC is a highly methodical sport which – while it might be an outlet for players’ anger on some level – is often best played when it’s not focused on angry behavior. This was a lesson learned in particular by UFC middleweight Robert Whittaker during a highly charged time in the ring. This post will look into what happened with Whittaker – and explore the question of whether anger is useful or not as an MMA/UFC fighter.
What happened with Whittaker?
Before delving further into the question of whether or not anger can ever be useful in the context of an MMA/UFC match, it’s prudent to explore what exactly took place for Robert Whittaker. He was fighting against Israel Adesanya during a match in 2019 when the angry altercation occurred: he found himself developing a dislike of his opponent before the match began, and this then played out with him going overboard on the attack.
Adesanya used this expression of anger to his advantage and managed to provide a horrendous counterpunch – which knocked Whittaker back. However, he’s now coming up against Adesanya again in mid-February – and he’s already stipulated that things will be different this time round when they meet in Houston. “It got tiring being angry at him, and for no real reason. It’s not like he came to my house and stole my TV,” Whittaker said afterwards.
What does anger mean in MMA/UFC?
As anyone who has watched live MMA/UFC close up – or even bet on it using a provider such as Betsson live – will know, MMA/UFC is in fact a very calibrated and precise sport. When the two players are in the ring together, they are not (contrary to popular belief) there simply to beat each other up! Instead, they’re there to apply a precise skill: the weakening of their opponent, or the scoring of more points based on how many times they are able to attack.
Anger can significantly detract from their ability to meet this goal. This is because it takes away focus: it redirects the energy that the player is supposed to be placing on meeting these goals, and instead directs it towards meeting another goal — the expression of negative emotions.
The same applies, of course, in any sport. A footballer who is pre-occupied with anger is likely to lose their focus on the aim of their sport, which is to either get the ball into the opposing goal or defend their own goal. There are countless examples of times when footballers and other sportspeople have managed to get themselves into such a position – and it’s rarely ended well. The difference with MMA/UFC, however, is that combat is built into the game. Given that in other contexts anger and combat are two sides of the same coin, there is a dangerous potential overlap between the two in this sport in particular.
Is it always bad?
However, there’s some evidence to suggest that it’s not always bad for an MMA/UFC fighter to get angry. Some have suggested that the reason people get involved in a sport like MMA/UFC at all is so that they can sublimate their feelings of anger into an environment that is more acceptable. Rather than getting angry with a person on the street, for example, they can get angry at the person who faces them in the ring. Whether or not this is true, of course, depends perhaps on the individual MMA/UFC fighter.
Overall, different people will have different answers to the question of whether or not anger is helpful to MMA/UFC fighters. Clearly it didn’t work for Robert Whittaker this time – but that doesn’t mean it will never work for him again, or that it’s always a bad idea. However, there’s also plenty of evidence to show that MMA/UFC is in many ways a top sport for those who have a need to channel their anger into something more constructive. Perhaps, then, it’s all about finding the right balance between being too angry and being in control.