"There's nothing you can take for granted; not a single day, not a single minute, not a single relationship." —Brian Stann

Georges St-Pierre on Fear and Empowerment

For Georges St-Pierre, fear is the beginning of all great things in his life. He talks about fear a lot and how dealing with and overcoming fear has been a powerful tool in his life. He is one of the few fighters on the planet who are so open and ready to admit they are scared. Athletics can lend itself to massive amounts of bravado, public displays of invincibility, and non-admission of any sort of weakness. But for Georges St-Pierre it's actually the opposite point of view that he takes. GSP feels that to not admit that you are scared shows more weakness, because that person is so terrified of their own fears that the cannot even bear to admit them to themselves. And for the Canadian UFC welterweight king, it's actually fear that allows courage even enter into the equation.

Quotes on the Power of the Mind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quotes about Keeping things in Perspective

Losing sucks, sure. But one of the things that a lot of wise fighters and fighters who have been through a lot understand is, even if you lose a fight, in the grand scheme of things it has no real significance. The sun will come up tomorrow and you can handle it. In fact, having this knowledge can actually improve your performance because it can often allow you to put down that weight you've been carrying around worrying about losing. Losing won't dominate your thinking and you can just go out there and be free to compete and perform at your best.

Brian Stann on fighting making you a better man

Brian Stann on the lessons of fighting:

Every time you fight, it's interesting, you learn more about yourself, you become a better man...Something's going to happen...where I'm going to have to go over an obstacle, I'm going to have to overcome something and then I'm going to have to either deal with a win or deal with a loss. And through experiences like that you become a better man in my vision.

Brian Stann on Victory

Winning is something to be savored:

I savor the moment. At this level, victories of any kind are always hard won and hard earned.

Brian Stann on being the Doer of Deeds

From Brian Stann's autobiography:

Where my future lies, I don't know. I do know this: I'll always take the heat. I'll take the critics. I will live my life like the battle it is. Like Teddy Roosevelt's Man in the Arena, you must strike to be "the doer of deeds", to have the heart for the fight.

Brian Stann on fighting for fun

I've had the unfortunate occurrences where I've had to look a mom in the eye and tell her why I couldn't bring her son home, I'm never going to do that after a UFC fight. So this I do for fun.
- Brian Stann

Brian Stann on becoming a champion

Brian Stann is only interested in becoming a champion:

I'm in this to become a champion, I'm not here to waste time, I'm not here to just say I'm a UFC fighter and wear a cool t-shirt, I want to be the world champion.

Brian Stann on making peace with Fear

Brian Stann feels you need to make friends with the worst possible outcome in order to release that fear from stopping you from achieving peak performance:

"I make peace with the fear of defeat...I think that fear holds you back from putting forth your best performance. If you walk out there thinking to yourself, 'I have to win,' you almost fight with that mental emergency brake on. It holds you back, and you fight not to lose instead of going for it."

Brian Stann on War humbling him

Brian Stann on looking at the big picture

Brian Stann has been in real life and death situations in military combat, so he can keep things in perspective when it comes to an MMA fight.

Brian Stann on keeping things in perspective

A lot of times an MMA fight is a cataclysmic event for individuals and they freeze up under the pressure. The fact that Brian Stann has been through some real war in the army, and not just an MMA "war" in the cage, makes the fight in the cage much less of a event in his mind.