When looking at a professional fighter, such as Georges St-Pierre (GSP), all one needs to do is drink in the surroundings and see the situation for what it is—legalized assault in front of millions—in order to realize that anyone who does battle in a cage is a rare breed indeed.
The combative sports have always been so dramatic and dangerous that fans have a Romanesque quality about them befitting the competition unfolding on the big stage—the fighters themselves not at all unlike the gladiators of old.
With so much pressure, it is a wonder they can function in front of such a vast crowd at all.
But when you look at a man like GSP, there is something about him that is not dwarfed or cowed by the situation and the enormity of consequence should he be defeated.
When he stepped into the cage to rematch BJ Penn, he was facing a fighter that had battered and bloodied him in their last fight, yet he looked like a pit viper, possessed of a violent purpose and aimed at achieving glorious ends through violent means.
In essence, he was focused beyond normal understanding.
Of course, he is not the sole possessor of this highly desirable quality and that is not surprising for we have seen it in other fighters as well.
Here are five such rare people who give such a dangerous business the attention it is due, with utter focus.