Mental Warfare: The Art Of Deception

It has been my experience in life that, “it does not matter what is; it only matters what you can make people believe is.” I’m not suggesting that you should go through life seeking advantages through misrepresentation and facades, but rather reality is greatly based on perception, and perception is not always in line with reality. So you are probably thinking; what does that fortune cookie logic have to do with boxing or martial arts? Simple, a fighter that is not proactive and merely reactive can be easily misled into believing one thing, when in actuality it is really another thing. Fighting is as much a mental battle as it is physical. It is possible during the course of a match to maneuver an opponent’s perception in such a way that he or she over-reacts or under-reacts to what you are doing, or becomes reserved and cautious. Athletes often refer to this situation as “taking someone out of their game.” You can create this dilemma for your opponent by playing on their fears and concerns as well as observing their habitual tendencies.

When I initially began competing, I would show everything I had right from the start. There would be nothing for my opponent to figure out, because I would play every card in my hand. My strategy was to overwhelm my opponent with speed, athleticism and aggression. However, victories come hard this way, and your body pays the toll in the way of fatigue and injury. I had grasped the hard war (the physical), but missed the soft war (the mental). My game plan definitely needed some refinement. Looking for answers, I turned my attention to the advice and observation of more experienced fighters than myself. I watched these seasoned fighters during their practice sparring sessions. They moved with a purpose; each technique seemed to be well-calculated and adjusted for distance, timing and effectiveness. No more energy was expended than what was needed. They were offensive and defensive at the same time; not one without the other. During the course of the confrontation, they appeared to be constantly evaluating and analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent. Witnessing all of this, it finally occurred to me that until then all my focus had been solely on myself. I never stopped once to think about what the other fighter was feeling and thinking, or how their physical state appeared. Nor did I bother to notice how opponents reacted to me. It seemed I knew myself, but did not know my adversaries.

Thanks to experimentation, training and observation I have been able to develop and sharpen my mental awareness inside the ring. I know now that some of the most important battles take place in the mind. So on that note, I will share with you some techniques I have found particularly effective when it comes to misdirecting the perceptions of opponents and taking advantage of their habitual behaviors:

1. As best as possible try to mask all signs of injury, pain, fatigue, frustration and anxiety. These are all dead give-aways that let your opponent know that what they are doing is getting to you, and builds their confidence.
2. Against slower opponents attack and retreat at angles. Remember it is to your opponent's advantage to have you stand in front of them, especially when they are slower than you. Cautiously front them at a distance within their striking range. If you are confident enough lower your guards slightly to make the idea of attacking you more appealing. As your opponent comes forward to strike, slip away laterally to your right or left to catch them with a counter-strike.
3. Place a string of strikes away from a particular area you really want to strike. This will help draw your opponent's attention away from your true intent. Often fighters will over-compensate for strikes frequently placed near or around the same area by shifting their guards too far and too soon in anticipation of being hit in the same spot. This in turn sets them up for an attack to the area of the body they left unprotected.
4. Faking one technique and immediately following with a legitimate one is a great way to pull your opponent out of position or cause them to delay their reaction to you. But you have to sell the fake. If the fake does not appear to be a real threat, your opponent will not move.
5. Look for patterns during the course of a match that you can exploit. Repeated behaviors make fighters predictable. Examples include - constantly going for head shots, dropping the rear hand when throwing the lead hand, grunting just before you strike, always moving in the same direction and cocking back a punch just before it is thrown.
6. Don't be satisfied with just avoiding or blocking a strike; look to immediately counter. Every time your opponent misses a shot make them pay; cause them to be cautious and apprehensive.
7. Use multiple strikes to make yourself harder to defend against. Increase your chances for a hit by also varying the shots to different parts of the body (head, chest, stomach, kidney, etc.)
8. Don't let an opponent off the hook. When a man is drowning pour more water. When given the opportunity take advantage of it.
9. Try to dominate a match early, causing your opponent to have to play catch-up. When a fighter is desperate they often get careless.
10. Disguise your power by mixing off-speed strikes with harder strikes.