Rob Pilger (RP): This is a sport that will revel you your true colors. It will show you what you are truly made of in a very revealing way. Only a special breed of men and women can enter the squared Circle of Combat and display true mastery of their skills and control their emotions.

This is often the most overlooked aspect and benefit of the training. It teaches you to take control of your fears, to come face to face with your fears and doubts and beat them...to crush them...to truly master yourself.

Alwyn Cosgrove (AC): The winner and the loser feel the same in a fight. It's what they do in the ring that makes them much different.

There's a point in every fight when a fighter takes a step backward and takes a big breath and you see the doubt in his eye. And then it's all over. I've got you. You're done.

There's a certain "je ne sais quoi" that accompanies training as a competitive fighter that's largely understood by most as something dark. And it is dark-raw brutality and grit. Nothing fancy. Just one person against another. Life at its most Darwinian-either you have the killer instinct, or you're dead. And only a certain kind of fighter has it. They're honestly a mean, cut-throat warrior, a fighter who instinctively knows when overwhelming force or cruelty or simply rolling with the punches will move him ahead.

I can remember my sports psychology professor coming into class and announcing that we were having an exam that day. This was completely unannounced. I was pissed and let my feelings known.

Then he stopped me. He pointed out the girl who sat in front of me in class. She was a long distance runner, and she'd sat quietly and thought about what the professor said. The rugby players to my left talked to each other about it, and me-the fighter-was ready to pull his head off! Each person responded exactly how the sport they practiced would determine. That's real.

Do you choose your sport-or does your sport choose you?

Skill Sparing and training

Alwyn Cosgrove (AC): A fight is just the execution of your fight preparation. It's about hitting and not being hit. It's not about rage. It's about application of the sweet science. So when I'm sparring, I'm just working on the application of my tools. No emotion.

RP: Training and sparring is the mission to be complete for a fight. Complete mentally, spiritually, and physically. If there are any weaknesses, we rid them in the gym. Great sparring does this...

I do this by sparring with styles that before have given me fits. I'm relaxed knowing that I'm doing what needs to be done. I'm taking the shape of the fighter who will be relaxed and truly dominant the night of the fight.

The final week

What is your mindset as a fight approaches the last week of fight prep? How is your "self talk?" What do you visualize yourself doing?

AC: I used to visualize two things-total domination and total failure. With total domination, I just execute my punches and the opponent cooperates very well.

With total failure, I visualize that everything goes wrong. So if it does, I know exactly what I'd do next. I rehearsed every possible outcome and was just ready to execute it.

RP: I'm relaxed knowing that I did my homework. I'm truly prepared in all areas. My self talk is that I'm calm and in control. I'm the boss, and I will break the other fighter down. He has never seen anyone as prepared as I'm now prepared.

I visualize myself as being very relaxed but vicious, making the other fighter pay for his mistakes. I'm showing him no emotion. I keep him guessing all the while knowing that I'm in control and I'm having fun executing our fight plan.

My mistakes will be minimal as my sparring has prepped me for the fight. If I make one, I come right back to take control. I'm the boss in a relaxed and calm way. I will break him by showing him that I'll come right back to dominate from anything he does. I'm in charge in the ring.

A stronger mind

How can you strengthen your mindset/confidence?

AC: For most people, it's getting in great shape and having total trust in yourself and your team. I just executed my team's instructions.

RP: Positive affirmations and visualization. Many fighters take the negative approach, thinking they're not good enough and not confident and they think about losing. What fighters forget is that you get what you think about all the time.

My top level sparring and training has made me super confident. I'm trained in such a way that I can't think of defeat. I'm willing to do anything to win. This is not arrogance but truly confidence backed by the hard that I've displayed in sparring and in the gym.

A backbone of great sparring (sparring many styles) and past fights has taught me that I've paid my dues and I have now arrived at last. I learned and know how to master my emotions and make the other fighters work against themselves.

Before the fight

What is the environment like in the locker room before you fight?

AC: I always had a quiet locker room. I was never into the shouting and hype. Very cerebral. Just me and my coach usually.

RP: Calm and relaxed. Comfortable knowing that I know the ring well. I enjoy being in it. Even laughing. I never liked the solemn locker room. This is what I like to do so I will show it. Go in stiff. Leave stiff.

I like people though who don't hype me up. I don't like that "rah rah" garbage. I want people around me who have been in the ring before. I don't like somebody who has never fought before saying, "The fight will be easy," or "The other guy isn't anything." They need not say anything. There bodily confidence is everything to me.

The warm up

What are you thinking while you're warming up?

AC: Nothing. Total blank. Going over and over it in my head. I know if I execute it perfectly, I'll win.

RP: My confidence is surging through me. I again know I did my work. I left no stone unturned. I'm ready to go. I'm loose, calm, and ready to have fun executing my plan. I learned a long time ago that I perform better when I'm loose but viscous.

Some may think, what about having that aggressive mental edge in the ring? The edge is being relaxed. Not using unnecessary energy. Calm but vicious.

Into the ring

What are your thoughts as you enter the ring?

AC: There are no judges. They are just witnesses to the perfect display I'm about to demonstrate in the ring for them.

RP: I'm relaxed and I'm enjoying being in the ring. I show my opponent right away that there is NO fear in my eyes, only confidence and strength. My body language shows it. I have seen everything he has before. I have done everything in training to shine tonight.

I'm the boss...

Jacked or relaxed

Is it better to be all jacked up or relaxed before a fight?

AC: Different fighters prefer different things in the ring. I was always trying to be calm as possible. I could get overanxious so I tried to be as relaxed and focused as I could. I think when emotion goes up, intelligence goes down. And then you're beat

RP: Good experience obviously is the best teacher. It has taught me not be tight and angry and not to use too much energy before the fight. Being calm but vicious allows you to be precise and deadly while not making many mistakes.

Emotions in the ring

AC: I think if I see that I "got to you" you're done. All the staring down and hype never got to me at all. All the trash talking or staring that you want, a few seconds from now, it's just you and me. And then we'll know.

RP: A poker face is everything. I learned one time the hard way about it in a fight. I hit this guy with a great shot. I didn't really follow up because then he pivoted out of the way. He didn't seem phased. After the fight in the ring, he told me, "You know you really had me hurt with that shot. I mean hurt."

He didn't show it. The poker face.

You can be dominating the whole fight. Have a guy beat down. Once you start to show fatigue though, you awaken him. You give him hope, which is really dangerous. That hope wakes him up, and he goes for broke.

Intimidation

How do you handle not being intimidated?

AC: I KNEW that he felt just as nervous as I did. We fighters all feel the same. And when we're both tired and both hurt-all I need to do is hang in a second or two longer than him-and it's mine. We all feel the same. But what we do, how we handle that, that's what separates us.

I can remember standing at the side of the ring. Scared. My skill coach asked me how I felt. I said I'm scared. (NEVER lie to your coach! )

RP: Experience and having a backbone teaches you how to handle it. Nothing but weakness on his part. He's fishing for something in you but not catching anything. You give him nothing.

My calmness and confidence are my strengths and worry him inside. I'm actually winning before we fight because he's doubting himself more by trying to intimidate me more. It's not working. I've learned that the fighters who try to intimidate me are usually weak and mentally fragile. They are already beaten.