Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
Kaitlyn Chookagian, Kamaru Usman, Stephen Thomspon, and many others open up about pre-fight anxiety.
Ahead of his scheduled headliner fight against Conor McGregor at UFC 246 in January, veteran fighter Donald Cerrone admitted to having intense attacks of pre-fight anxiety. “Cowboy” detailed every uneasy feeling and emotion, from the time he has his hands wrapped in the locker room, right up to the point where he touches gloves with his opponent.
It is an emotion that many other fighter share with Cerrone. Flyweight title contender Kaitlyn Chookagian, for one, says she sometimes hopes for an unfortunate incident right before her fight and have the entire matchup cancelled.
Related: Georges St-Pierre opens up on anxiety, explains why he absolutely hates fighting
“I’m always like, maybe the bus will get in a car accident on the way over,” Chookagian told ESPN. “Not that you get really hurt, but just enough where the fight gets cancelled or something. And then we won’t have to do it, and it won’t be like me pulling out.
“I always kind of joke about it, but there’s a little bit of seriousness there. I’ve competed like my whole life in martial arts, so I’m kind of used to it.”
Stephen “Wonderboy” Thomspon, who is no stranger to massive headliner fights, has similar thoughts running in his head.
“I get it mostly right before I walk out to the arena. That’s when you start feeling it the most,” Thompson said. “I’m hoping an asteroid comes down to blow the place up so I don’t have to fight. Or I twist my ankle as I’m walking through. All kinds of stuff pops in your head.
“There’s not a whole lot of people who do this sport, and it’s because of that. To still feel that scared but going out there and doing it anyway — not a whole lot of people can do that.”
Even welterweight champion Kamaru Usman isn’t spared from such emotions.
“You’re super fast on the mitts in practice — you’re the fastest in the world,” he explained. “Then you get to the locker room and you feel super slow, your arms are heavy, your stomach is in a knot. You want to take a sh-t 10 times even though you haven’t really eaten in a couple days.
“Every fighter can tell you somehow you pee at least 10 times, even though you haven’t even been drinking water.”
However, there are also those like newly-minted featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski, who claim they don’t feel a thing right before walking out to the cage.
“It doesn’t happen to me. I’m a bit different than most people. I play what’s in front of me,” he said. “I’ve got someone like [Jose] Aldo or Max [Holloway] in front of me, it’s just another body, another job that needs to be done. I just believe I’m built a little bit different. That’s why you see me so composed in there. That’s why I can stick to a game plan like I do.”
Chookagian will step into the biggest fight of her career when she faces Valentina Shevchenko for the women’s flyweight title at UFC 247. It takes place this Saturday, February 8th in Houston, Texas.