What is the best advice for a new pro MMA fighter?
Train as hard as you can. Really focus. Your career is not going to be a long career. You cannot fight way too many fights. Just go for it. All the drinking and all the partying that you want to do, just put that to the side for the next six, seven years. You can always do it later, but now is your time to shine. So train hard, do not get side tracked by crazy things. Train really hard. Be open minded. Make sure that you eat good food. Again it is very important. Do not take any crazy drinks or pills from people just before a fight. You would be amazed how many people are, "hey here is a caffeine pill. If you take this man, is works really good." Imagine this - caffeine and adrenaline. That is not a real good combination. In the dojo when you are training, you can pretty much take whatever you want because you are very relaxed and that is why fighters say, I got tired in a fight, but I can not get tired in a dojo. Yeah, but it is a whole different ball game. Now you do not fight in a safe controlled environment. No. Now you are fighting in front of maybe your family, your friends, thousands of people. The TV is there with cameras in your face. And now you have got to do everything the same as you did in the dojo. That is the most difficult thing about fighting. Once you conquer that, once you can do that, you are on your way to becoming a great champion. It is very important that you focus and relax.
