I'm a fan of Dan Hardy's pre-fight and post-fight MMA analysis videos and if his autobiography captured only a fraction of that quality I'd have considered my money well spent. Fortunately it delivers. Just like in his videos he articulates himself well and it's clear he has a way with words. He does a brilliant job of intertwining the evolution of the sport with his own career – from fighting in local events for just a few hundred pounds to the big time in the UFC. I enjoyed looking up his old fights as he described them and looking up individuals that he'd mention during the course of the book – from opponents to training partners to coaches to generally influential individuals in the sport. Overall this was a fun read and, for sure, if you're into the analytical side of martial arts you'll enjoy this book.
Below are some quotes from the book:
"Fighters initially trained in the different disciplines separately, but when the lines between striking, wrestling and jiu-jitsu were blurred, the holes in their games became exposed. By training the transitional phases in isolation, it forced those wanting to stay standing to integrate takedown defence into their game, and for those wanting to fight on the mat to take into consideration the striking range which had to be negated to close the distance."
"I was always keen to highlight and focus on my flaws. In fact, I viewed such introspection as a vital and necessary evil of being a mixed martial artist. Plenty of fighters shy away from such an approach and are content to keep working on their own speciality or what they know they are good at, but my logic was that if I improved on my weaknesses I would remove doubt or worry from my mind and be able to focus on my strengths during a fight."
"When you are facing a man like Wanderlei Silva, the question within yourself as to whether you really want this is asked long before the bout starts. That's a powerful position for any athlete to hold, but particularly in combat sports. This is a game of psychological as well as physical dominance. Some may find it hard to image that an otherwise warm and friendly character can behave so brutally, but I always felt my profession demanded I be this way. I wasn't trying to earn victories, I was taking them from opponents with violent force. And it was from such means of victory that I drew my confidence and was able to re-enter a cage and do it all over again."
"I've never been much of a money-chaser, it was always about the competition. That may seem naive of me, and maybe it was in some respects, but I know that while such an approach may have cost me a few quid in the short term, in the long term it opened up doors and provided opportunities that may have otherwise gone to the guys on the circuit willing to accept hard fights for less money."
"A huge swathe of so-called mixed martial artists were indeed little more than thugs who had done a bit of boxing and drunken street fighting and now wanted the reputation of being a no-holds-barred cage fighter. I was loathe to be lumped in with that subsection and for that reason I never fought on a Cage Rage event. They had great fighters on their cards... but the whole promotion was packaged in such a thuggish manner that it never appealed to me. I was never interested in gaining a tough-guy image. All I wanted was to test myself in a fair fight, in an arena, in a sporting environment."
"... the traditional air of respect that is still prominent in Japanese life was present in PRIDE, with fans sitting and watching studiously, applauding appreciatively for good exchanges on the ground and recognising astute game-plans when they paid off. It always seemed to me like the Asian audience, more keenly aware of the beauty and intricacies of martial arts, held fighters in a higher regard... The UFC, with its American razzmatazz was a place for sportsmen and entertainers, while PRIDE felt like the home of true warriors."
"I do enjoy a scrap, and I am sometimes the one to go looking for it, but what I really love more than anything is slick counter-punching. Catching someone cleanly as they move in to knock you out is the most beautiful thing you can do in an Octagon or ring as far as I am concerned. That is the point where fighting can meet art."
"Very few UFC competitors will reach superstar status on raw talent inside the Octagon alone. We are in the entertainment business, albeit a particularly real, bloody and violent strand of it, and so how you carry yourself in front of the cameras or microphones when the gloves are off can be just as important as when you are kicking someone in the head or choking the consciousness out of them on the canvas. The marketing minds have an expectation that you create and work on a particular image of yourself that you wish to project and, as I enjoy the theatrical aspect to the UFC, I was only too happy to fully embrace that side of the game."
"I employed a constant filtration process to my learning, and plenty of hours and days of work were immediately discarded, but I always enjoyed the journey. The constant questioning and testing was necessary and I continue doing it today, for it allows me to see everything from a very analytical standpoint. Even within skill-sets that are undoubtedly applicable to an MMA fight, it is important to establish whether they are right for you. Body shape and size, for example, must come into the equation."
"Our Inside the Octagon series soon became a fan favourite, but I imagine few viewers have any idea of the amount of preparation I do before I allow those segments to be recorded. In advance of breaking down a fight or particular fighter, I spend hours putting myself in the shoes of the protagonists. I'll stand in front of the gym mirror, mimicking their styles and envisioning what their opponent will be thinking and doing. I then flip it round to become the opponent and repeat until I have the best vision of how I believe the fight will go in my mind. I may not get it wholly correct every time, but I don't think there is anyone out there putting in as much effort as I do to be as accurate as possible with their analysis and predictions."
"... the way forward is to actually look into the past for inspiration. Bruce Lee once said, 'I don't believe in different ways of fighting now. I mean, unless human beings have three arms and three legs, then we will have a different way of fighting. But basically we all have two arms and two legs so that is why I believe there should be only one way of fighting and that is no way'."
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