Transcription
Everyone thinks sparring is essential in martial arts, but the world's greatest fighters have stopped doing it. I think you don't have to spar anymore. We don't spar as much now. I don't spar heavy anymore. I haven't sparred since Tibau. Now I don't spar at all. Donald Cerrone was doing that. He wasn't sparring at all, it was just- Not a lot of sparring at all. Max Holloway, in his last fight, didn't spar at all. Tom Breese, he is the same way. Because they've discovered something safer and more effective.
It's crazy how many guys I've seen that left their career in the gyms. Every sparring for them, it's about winning the round. Yeah, cannot improve like this. Or should I say rediscovered, because this ancient training method precedes mankind itself. Today, you'll learn what it is, why it works, and how you can do it yourself.
Now, there's no denying that classical sparring is important. For all the movies showing old masters breaking boards and pummeling dummies, eventually, you need to try your skills on a real opponent. Because without pressure testing, you won't know if your techniques actually work. Imagine having to use your skills in real life, only to realize that everything you've been taught flies out the window the minute you encounter actual resistance. And there's no better way to prepare for that chaos than sparring. The problem is... Most people are sparring the wrong way, and this graph explains why.
And its explanation lies in the animal kingdom. When a puppy chases a ball, he unconsciously trains himself to chase prey. When bear cubs wrestle with each other, they actually simulate hunting. And when a lion cub does this, he's really practicing how to kill. To the animals, it just feels like playing because that's what it is.
But here's where it gets interesting for you. Because studies show that playing reduces cortisol, also known as the stress hormone, but at the same time, it increases dopamine, or the pleasure hormone. Both of these hormones are directly associated with something called neuroplasticity, which is a fancy word for learning. You see, if your cortisol levels are high and your dopamine levels are low, your ability to learn is impaired because you're in the infamous fight-or-flight mind state, which negatively impacts memory and learning. But it's the exact opposite when you're in a state of play.
It's like Dr. Huberman from Stanford University says. "How can I keep my brain young? How can I continue to learn? How can I get better in school and sport and life and relationships, et cetera? What you need to do is return to the same sorts of practices and tools that your nervous system naturally used, and that evolved over hundreds of thousands of years to trigger this thing that we call neuroplasticity."
And that is why all animals play, because it directly puts your brain in the optimal state for skill development. And you are an animal too. When you were a kid, no one told you to climb trees. You weren't thinking about how it developed your body awareness, how it made you stronger, more coordinated. You were just playing. Because that's how all humans learn about the world and themselves. Even though you've grown up, nothing's changed. In fact, a classical Dutch text entitled "Homo Ludens," or "The Playing Man," argues that play is fundamental to all thriving societies because life itself is a game, and we're always playing whether we like it or not. But there is a right way and a wrong way to play.
Let's look at that graph again. On the x-axis, we're measuring your systemic arousal, your fight-or-flight, but on the y-axis, we're measuring performance. When we're not very stimulated, our performance sucks, but if we're exposed to too much pressure, our performance goes to crap again. In other words, fear and stress are terrible motivators because they kill our ability to learn and think.
That's why the best fighters don't approach sparring as fighting, but as serious play. For instance, Muay Thai fighters always spar very lightly, allowing the fighters to focus on movement, timing, distance and technique. This often resembles a dance more than a fight. Yet, Thai boxers are considered some of the toughest fighters on the planet, and they're not alone. Listen to what MMA expert Firas Zahabi says about the Cuban boxing team. "Cubans are the top boxers. They consistently win gold medals, but in practice room, they're playful, nobody gets hurt. Do you ever see Cubans sparring? They're like 50 guys in a room. They're just touch sparring. There's no headgear. They have a more playful attitude."
Play keeps your cortisol at bay while refining your mind, body, and technique. Plus, it saves your brain cells for when it actually matters. It's like UFC fighter Stephen Thompson told me. "You get a lot of gyms out there that go out there, they put their gear on, and they try and knock each other out. I've been to some gyms where I've literally had to fend for my life. We got doctors and lawyers that I train with. And they can't afford to be going back to work with black eyes and broken noses."
Believe it or not, the best fighters even manage to keep the spirit of play in competition, not just training. They don't play because they're great. They're great because they play. But, of course, we have the opposite end of the spectrum as well. "I'm not afraid of nobody." Mike Tyson wasn't playing around. Neither was Khabib Nurmagomedov, who literally grew up wrestling with bears. They became the world's greatest, with a kill-or-be-killed approach. And yeah, that works too... But at what cost?
"Look at this stuff, this is history here." "This is garbage, I can say I bled for garbage." For most of us, this is not practical in the long term because it lacks the F word. That's right, I'm talking about fun. When you're having fun, you're more likely to stick with your training, and that's how you accumulate the famous 10,000 hours needed to achieve mastery.
Yet, think about how most of our training experience is set up. Lots of emphasis on the right way of doing things, and when we do things the wrong way, a whole lot of correction because the focus is on winning and avoiding the fatal mistakes that could cost us victory. Now, if you're thinking, "Duh, yeah, Jesse, that's the whole idea," then I want you to meet James Carse. Back in 1987, he wrote a book called "Finite and Infinite Games." Carse said that the idea in finite games is to get to the end and declare the winner, but in an infinite game, the idea is to keep the game going indefinitely. So instead of being laser-focused on winning, people who pursue an infinite game see everything as an ongoing process, with lots of discoveries and learning along the way. In other words, winning is playing, and playing is winning.
So if you think of sparring as an infinite game, you give yourself room to experiment, try new things, and be a creative problem solver. It's like Albert Einstein said, "Play is the highest form of research." But playing doesn't mean you're avoiding hard work. This is serious play because you don't wanna waste your time down here. You wanna remain competitive to grow and develop. "Let's hold this fire!" That's why even in military training, there will be lots of play. They use simulators, mock battles, and mission exercises all the time, all of which are serious games. Because they're trying to put them in a situation where they can maximize learning without the consequences of actual battle. That's why the alpha male lion almost never hunts himself. Because he knows the risks. And the same goes for alpha fighters.
"I think you don't have to spar anymore." In several interviews, UFC fighter Max Holloway admits to giving up traditional sparring altogether. "We know how to punch somebody. You know how to slip a punch, why are you gonna take unnecessary damage?" But this approach doesn't stop Max from fighting and even winning. The crazy thing is, people are calling him a coward. This is just proof that people have learned to fight the wrong way.
Think about this: How many of your gym buddies stopped training after getting injured or having bad sparring sessions? Most likely, they were focused on surviving rather than fighting. Playing, on the other hand, eliminates unnecessary injuries and leaves us only with learning. Because it allows you to safely fail, to try new things, and put what you know into practice.
The problem is... When ego comes into play. You see, some fighters wanna prove that they're better than others. This leads them to hit harder, which triggers the other fighter to hit back twice as hard. A fun spar now ends up as a brawl, and nobody is learning anything.
So what's the right way to do it? Well, rule number one is to see losing as winning. Because your opponent might be better than you, or you might have a bad day. But that doesn't have to mean that you suck. Rather, it's a lesson. Ask yourself, "What did this round teach me that I needed to learn?" Because learning is also winning. Secondly, you should be comfortable letting your guard down at any point, and the same goes for your opponent. You should be able to get hit without the risk of injury. Otherwise, you're sparring too hard, and you won't be able to take risks. No risk, no reward. Third, you should be able to do great rounds even with people who have less experience, or weaker or smaller than you. Rather than taking advantage of your size and abilities, try to adapt and work on specific skills depending on who you face. This could include switching stances, changing levels, or working on weak spots. Nobody's dominating, and both are developing. Fourth, don't save sparring for last. Rather try to do it at the beginning of your training session because that's when your mind and body is sharp, and fifth, don't stick to your favorite old combinations, even if they're scoring. Instead, try to implement new techniques. Yes, you're likely to fail. That's fine because the goal of playing is not to win, but to keep learning. And the day you stop learning is the day you stop living. This is what the world's greatest fighters believe. What about you?