Whenever I watch ufc or ofc, I notice the fighters are flooded with so much impact to their bodies. How are they so durable tho? I get they do conditioning. I also do body conditioning because I do mma too. But whenever I spar someone it hurts so much after. In the moment, my adrenaline deals with it but afterwards everything hurts so much. Do they also feel this?
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You have to understand that the ufc is the pinnacle of the sport, so just as in the nba its not like you turn black tall and athletic after years of training basketball, a certain genetic type of human excells in fighting, so these guys that you see are not regular humans, these are mostly the genetic freaks. You can sometimes see the contrast when some fighters make it to the pinnacle mostly on superior skill and they still get Ko’d “relatively easy” take a ryan hall as a recent example and more on topic of you check more behind the scenes stuff, most “small” injuries don’t get discussed but many fighters will break bones, hands, have tears, concussions and much more on a regular night.
They definitely feel the pain. Being good means that you can convert a lot of the blows to glances. When they do get hit they get hit hard though. It requires a mindset that refuse to give up just because you felt some impact. Adrenaline does that. After the fight they are more sore than you have ever been. They just think the kick of fighting is worth the pain. Kinda like how a skateboarder gets back up and tries again after breaking an arm.
Moutinho was like a man possessed. Suga was throwing some of his best shots and putting on a show and he kept coming forward, I’ve never seen anything like it. Pity he can’t fight for shit, but my god has he got a chin. And his willpower is incredible aswell to keep marching into that beating.
Any time you hit something, micro fractures are created in the bone structure that calcify over and get tougher similar to how muscles get stronger after being torn via workouts.
That’s how people are able to put their elbows through concrete and stuff, and why mma flighters can take rib shots better than an average person.
Also the muscles in the neck get stronger and can brace the skull against impacts like getting punched, so it’s a combination of muscular and skeletal strength!
Also: punches can literally break your hand, while overlooked cause of gloves, the bones strength in the knuckles is likely well above average.
The training also conditions your body. For example, in Muay Thai you do a lot of conditioning exercises to build up your “armour”. Your thighs become conditioned to take multiple leg kicks whereas a leg kick to a normal person would put them on their ass.
Adrenaline. They come in expecting pain. They get hit. Adrenaline starts flowing. They get pumped up from the adrenaline and fight back like a superhuman.
Adrenaline is one hell of a drug. A mother can lift a car off her child and feel nothing, not their muscles tearing, only to feel it once the adrenaline wears off.
This is also why you don’t see many fighters doing a huge number of bouts every year. Recovery time is real they aren’t machines, they might be acclimated to shrugging off some of the pain but they’re still human and even if you kept going after that massive Thai kick to your hamstring you probably aren’t walking much for the next week after the adrenaline wears off.
I was a muay Thai fighter and a lot of the training was about developing the mental capacity to keep going when the going is hard. You learn to ignore everything your body is signalling. You smile when you’re in pain. It becomes a habit.
You still feel it all after the fight. Sometimes my shins were so messed up I could barely walk. My headaches lasted for days. My friend started having memory gaps and shakes in her 20ies. It’s not a sustainable sport. Just look at retired fighters, how many can you find who don’t slur their speech?
After the fight, after the bolus of steroids and amphetamines wear off the do hurt…a LOT. This is the part they never show, the bruising, the broken bones and sprained joints, the bloodied eye and the ripped skin. It’s pretty sick, man.
probably because you go to a mcdojo and your conditioning is subpar at best. do full contact kyokushin at a reputable dojo and you’ll see what real conditioning is like. you’re body will become accustomed to being hit and you won’t have this “post fight pain” you speak of. at least not much anyway. sparring you’ll have none. because sparring is about technique, not power.
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