Like most fight fans, I tuned in to watch UFC 300 this weekend 🔥
One of the fighters that impressed me most was Alex “Poatan” Pereira…
What I love about Poatan is his story…
He started off working in a tire repair shop in Brazil, taking car wheels apart by hand (you can find videos online…) 👀
Then he would train kickboxing at night.
Not too surprising then that he was given the nickname “Poatan”, which means “Stone Hands” in Tupi, an indigenous language of Brazil.
By now we’ve all seen the knockout.
After taking what looked to be a “low blow” from Jamahal Hill, he coldly pushes away ref Herb Dean…
Stays focused…
And seconds later lands a brutal left hand to finish the fight 🤜🏽💥😵
These were his words in the post-fight interview:
“I started using leg kicks from the beginning so I could find his distance. He’s a southpaw, so it’s a little harder.
My game plan was to start throwing hands after that, so then he threw the groin shot, but it did not really hurt too much, so I chose to just keep pushing so I did not have to reset the distance. Capitalize on the moment.”
Not every fighters has that kind of focus.
But not every fighter is a World Champion 🗿
One of the things that Poatan mentioned in his interview too was:
“Every time I step on the cage I never think about defending my title but I think about conquering a title again”
This was the type of mindset I had when I defended my world titles. I never thought that I was defending it… I was simply conquering it again.
He also received his Black Belt after the fight, which is always cool to see (not that we see him grapple too often – his fights in the UFC have been pretty short 😅)
He is a the top of the world and he is super polite and cool. He respects everyone and just goes out there and gives his best:
“I never allow the title get into my head. I never let it changes who I am. Instead I keep myself the same, I treat everyone the same and I do my best to make sure I don’t let the title get in my head. I know becoming a world champion can change people’s lives and mind. But I will never let it get into my mind”
I love his attitude for this. I’ve seen people win a small local tournament and let it go to their head. They get cocky and they think they are better than others…
Of course you have to believe in yourself, but you also need to know who you are… Poatan shows that in a simple way.
He even said he will go after the Heavyweights. Imagine that. He could become a 3 division UFC world champion. What a great champion mindset.
At the moment, I’m focusing on teaching my own athletes how to build this kind of focused, champion mindset…
I’ve even based my next 5-Day Challenge around mindset 🧠
This challenge runs next week, from April 24-28…
And as a member of my email list, you sign up (at no cost) by clicking here.
Let’s GO
Andre
P.S. I’ve created some “taster” videos to prepare for the Mindset Challenge.
I’ve called these my “Mat Reflections”.
You can check out one of the most recent reflections, “Attitude”, by clicking the image below:
