my favourite fighter is cro cop. however its been a little painful watching him in the ufc, compared to the youtube clips of him from years ago.[i wasn't watching mma back then.] so many people seem to really like the guy here on the forums, and most say the same thing, he's lost his confidence. everyone points to the Gonzaga fight for this. so did he lose belief in himself because he was knocked out? i'm sure that had happened to him in the past though? i would of thought he would've had a mountain of self-belief when joining the ufc? i imagine[and cro cop] proves this, that confidence is a very difficult thing to get back in the fight game? have there been other fighters in mma that have shown a big lack of self-belief in themselves, where before they had plenty?
Ya there are a few off the top: Arlovski Liddell Wanderlei But there are also cases of guys regaining confidence like Alistair, I think it depends on your age
After his loss, every time I see Cro Cop, punch or kick, he doesnt, complete the strike and pulls back arm or leg ASAP to protect himself. As if there is a trigger in his head that tells him each strike "or ****, I can get something in return, i'd better stop and put my defence up". To me he seems to have a mental issue he cant get over.
The fact that AA's chin is by far one of the worse in MMA doesn't count anymore? And Chuck got old. Same with Wandy. In their prime they were beasts. If you want to talk about self confidence look no further than Rampage. Career beat down vs Wand in PRIDE that was painful to watch x2. He still came back to be the number 1 light heavy in the world, destroy Wand in their rubber match and win the UFC title.
eveyone has a lose and if they can come back from it is up to each one, jose aldo lost once, gsp lost twice and anderson silva lost 3 times legit and 1 BS lose and they are the p4p #3
I believe Gsp can be used as an example he had some problems with confidence after the serra loss but he worked through it. Now he is back on top of one of the most dominating careers in MMA. I remember hearing that Gsp went to a physiologist after the serra loss. ahh here is the article. http://www.fightmagazine.com/mma-magazine/mma-article.asp?issid=6&aid=77 Pretty amazing to come right back after that, shows the character of Gsp. the mental aspect of fighting is very important and I think Gsp's mental game is very high tuned, thats in addition to his athletism is how he stays 2 steps ahead of his opponents.
I always think Bisping is someone who's held back by lack of confidence - after the Henderson KO and the Kang knockdown (which was a lot worse than is remembered) he seems unwilling to stand in the pocket and trade. He basically threw away what should have been a passing of the torch moment aganst Wanderlei by showing him too much respect.
And absolutely agree with Yaca You - mental game very important GSP is a great example of the good work sports physiologist can do.
Ignoring your syntax for a second, his chin is not good, but he faced big punchers before and was not being KO'd like he is now, Liddell I agree, Wanderlei perhaps, he was not so old when he came over to the UFC, but he came over after getting KOd twice in Pride and got thrown in with some good competition, and as such, he did not get a chance to regain his confidence in the UFC.
Forget about his age. Thats not relevant. Wandy was never the same after his loss to Mark Hunt. He took some serious punishment in that fight. Likewise he was on the end of a career beat down in one of the most savage displays of violence iv ever seen at the OWGP. CC just tore him to shreds. His subsequent loss to Henderson punctuated that. Since then he's had a mediocre .300 record and a ton of injury's. Wandy's been doing this for a long long time. Since the Vale Tudo days in fact. In fighter years he's ancient. And with a super aggressive Muay Thai style like that and all the Chute Boxe gym wars plus his fights its hardly surprising. The fat lady's singing. He should have retired years ago.
That's because Bisping thought he was a striker. Turns out he was not...The guy's nothing more than a strutting peacock. Problem is even he knows it.
cro cop has never mentally been the strongest. he is a warrior but he simply is not in the same league as the best. his mental weakness was apparent years ago when he was timid against fedor. GSP, Hearns, Lewis, Khan and Haye strike me as very impressive examples of taking heavy losses but not letting it affect them.
Nah. It was his arrogance. He was exposed vs Randleman the first time. After that KO loss he became more gunshy. Although when he fought in the OWGP that was by far the most potent and mentally tough CC iv ever seen. He went into that tournament with the attitude that he was simply going to win at all costs. Did you see his GnP? Have you seen anything as fearsome as that before from CC?
