26th
Be Like..Fedor?
Fedor Emelianenko is this guy. A, uh, tough guy, you could say. He’s the guy walking away from the knocked-out guy in the picture. He’s a mixed-martial artist, who competes in MMA matches around the world, and has yet to be beaten. He’s mythical in that realm, no one can really touch him.
That guy on the ground, Andrei Arlovski, tried, then got himself countered by Mr. Emelianenko there. The story of the night was Arlovski had Fedor in “trouble”, backing him up into the corner. Then Arlovski launched a flying knee, a bit of a fancy move in MMA. Then, Fedor countered:
“There’s certain techniques that I practiced and worked on and certain scenarios and this is one of the scenarios that I anticipated,” said Emelianenko. “When that scenario came up, I knew the right thing to do was to go with the right.”
Go with the right. That’s it, just a quick overhand right and show’s over. What interested me was Fedor’s quote there, that he works on certain scenarios, and having someone come at you with a flying knee in the corner is one of them, apparently.
I think the fact that Fedor said something like that is more impressive to me than his actual knockout of Arlovski. His tone suggests he never thinks he’s in trouble, never unprepared for a “scenario” and that no one can beat him because of it. Because of his faith in his preparation, said preparation must be just insane. If you compete at the highest levels of anything, and honestly think no one can beat you because of your preparation, well, that’s something to learn from.
You see Fedor not only had his scenarios worked out — if the flying knee in the corner was one of them he must have hundreds — but he has developed his techniques enough for them to be simply muscle memory. He can do them perfect each time, because the muscles themselves know what to do.
So when Arlovski comes charging in, a couple of nodes fire, one to recognize the scenario and the other to trigger the counter, an overhand right practiced thousands of times. End result is pure effectiveness. Just ask the guy on the ground.
I’m not saying go out and figure every scenario you could be put in. Just think about how Fedor applied preparation into his art; it has become part of his strength. Whether its your personal or professional life, think of some scenarios. Situations which may occur, or have in the past. Not crazy moments, but situations that can and will happen again.
Then, think about how you’d counter. From several angles. It’s like that last interview, when you were asked what you’re weakest at. Think about that scenario from several angles, and have several counters.
That way, you won’t get beat to the punch.
