Sports psychology is a relatively new practice in Mixed Martial Arts. Many fighters think of working with a sports psychologist as a sign of weakness, however times are changing and many of the sports top athletes now turn to sports psychologists for mental improvement.
We talked to Cage Contender champions and leading Cage Warriors contenders Cathal Pendred and Chris Fields about how working with David Mullins and ‘Conquer Mental Skills’ has improved the mental side of their game.
“A fight can be won or lost in a fighters head. So it’s important to focus on mental skills as much as any other aspect of MMA.”
“David Mullins at Conquer Mental Skills has been working with me for about a year and a half, I definitely have to attribute some of my success to his great work.”
“A lot of fighters can be afraid to work with a sports psychologist because they think it might look like they’re not confident in themselves. That’s ridiculous, in reality you’re just strengthening one of your most important tools needed to succeed” – Cathal “The Punisher” Pendred
“I have been working with Conquer Mental Skills since December 2010 and I think the results speak for themselves. I have never been more focused and driven” – Chris “The Killing” Fields
We also caught up with the man behind Conquer Mental Skills Training, David Mullins, who works with many of the top MMA fighters in Ireland.
“As part of my Masters course I had to do a placement with an athlete from an individual sport. I wanted to work with an MMA fighter as I have been a fan of MMA since I first saw the UFC (Matt Hughes v Carlos Newton, remember the slam KO against the fence). I also felt that the mental aspect of fighting is unique to that of any other sport and that Sport Psychology could really benefit fighters where mental toughness is so crucial.”
“I got in touch with John Kavanagh, (I figured I might as well start with the best around )to see if he would be interested in allowing me to complete my placement with someone from SBG. He was very positive and put me in touch with Aisling Daly. I knew of Ais from Cage Rage shows so was delighted with that. When I met her I knew it was going to work well. I still work with Ais now almost 3 years on and she is one of the most dedicated, skilful and humble athletes you could ever wish to meet. She is a truly world class Irish athlete and there are not too many of those around in any sport so I was fortunate to have Ais be the first fighter I got to work with and was so proud of her when she won the world title in Ohio.”
“After a while working with Ais I made myself available to other fighters from SBG and the response from the guys was very positive. They knew from talking to Ais and John that the work I do is practical and can have massive benefits in their preparation.”
“There are a lot of misconceptions out there that Sport Psychology is for the mentally weak and if you need to work with someone on your mental game you must have something wrong with you. Also there is a notion that it involves lying on the couch or hypnosis and it’s just not the reality of it at all. The work we do is practical and just another part of the guys preparation. We work on visualisation training, self talk, journal logs, fight day routines, highlight reel videos plus lots of other things. A lot of the work involves talking things through and the focus is on improving performance and developing all round.”
“Every fighter is different and there are always new challenges to deal with so no two sessions are identical. Sessions are always one to one and normally last about an hour but it can vary. The first session will involve just getting to know their background and if they feel there are any issues they would like to work on straight away. We then develop a plan and there will be stuff for them to work on between sessions. I encourage openness and honesty and trust is crucial and I have been lucky enough to develop good relationships with the athletes I work with. I sometimes have to remind myself I’m the sport psych and not just a fan when watching the guys fight as it can be very exciting like when Chris Fields knocked out Jack Mason or Cathal Pendred beat David Bielkheden at Cage Warriors”
“It’s an exciting time to be associated with SBG with so many champions around and it’s only a matter of time before some of the guys follow Gunnar Nelson to the UFC. John Kavanagh is an incredible coach , he is the reason I got to work with the team and he understands the benefits of the work for the guys. I am available to fighters from outside of Ireland for pre-fight preparation but in Ireland I now work exclusively with SBG and that’s because of the way John works and the fighters that represent the gym. I don’t work with every fighter in the gym but the ones I don’t work with have welcomed me in as much as the ones I do and that says so much about the atmosphere.”
“I think that Sport Psychology will soon be seen as just another part of training for the majority of MMA fighters. Guys like GSP, Rich Franklin, Donald Cerrone, Rashad Evans and Rousimar Palhares are all advocates of the benefits of Sport Psychology and how it helped them and this can only help to encourage other fighters.”
“It may seem alien now but its not too long ago in Sport that Strength and Conditioning coaches had to go through a “we don’t need you we are doing fine the way we are” kind of attitude. Athletes that want to develop and improve and know the importance of mental toughness understand why Sport Psychology can help and MMA is full of those kind of athletes.”
For more information check out ‘Conquer Mental Skills’ on Facebook
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