Win or Learn: Accept Defeat to Move Forward

Win or Learn: Accept Defeat to Move Forward 

You can tell a lot about a fighter when they suffer a defeat. Ronda Rousey struggled to deal with back to back defeats to Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes which have almost certainly ended her MMA career.

Rousey was seemingly at the peak of her career, a champion in total dominance of her rivals, finishing her opponents in seconds before it all ended so dramatically and unexpectedly.

Maybe because her reign and career ended so abruptly and the manner of her defeats was the reason for her reaction. A fighter on the slow decline would in their own mind accept its coming to an end and would have time to mentally prepare for it.

Rousey was slaughtered by many in the media, unfairly in my opinion. Yes, she should in a perfect world have done things differently. But equally we need to accept that some fighters do have mental frailties and we should be more understanding.

Conor McGregor was another MMA fighter who lost when it was least expected, Nate Diaz upset McGregor and the way McGregor handled his loss would have suprised many. An early career defeat saw McGregor go off the rails and very nearly saw him leave the sport.

But McGregor was humble in defeat to Diaz, and unlike Rousey faced the media and ultimately made the adjustments to beat Diaz in the rematch.

Molly McCann in her UFC debut in May suffered what I called a heartbreaking loss in front of her own fans in Liverpool. McCann in her moment of self reflection realised she needs to work on her all round game, she offered no excuses but vowed to do what was needed.

In a matter of weeks rising stars James Gallagher and Paddy Pimblett suffered defeats that have stopped the hype train around them. Despite both being in their early twenties they showed maturity way beyond their years. Again both accepted the defeats, didn’t hide and both will return better fighters as a result.

Defeats in MMA will happen to virtually every fighter at some point in their careers. Daniel Cormier after his 2nd loss to his nemesis Jon Jones was inconsolable immediately afterwards.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk struggles to accept her recent defeats and you do worry if she is a lesser fighter as a result.

It will be interesting what version of Cody Garbrandt we see when he makes his comeback after the defeats to TJ Dillashaw, as with Jędrzejczyk is the aura they once had gone forever, do they truly accept their losses, to move forward they need to.

The likes of McCann, Gallagher and now Pimblett have impressed me with how they have handled their adversity and all 3 will as they say so often nowadays, win or learn.