Gordon Ryan needs no introduction at this point as the consensus greatest no gi grappler on the planet right now, and Andrew Wiltse has been taking the grappling world by storm lately as part of the incredibly impressive Pedigo Submission Fighting team. The pair of elite grapplers took some time out to sit down with Bernardo Faria and discuss how they go about preparing for competition mentally in a video that was recently uploaded to the official YouTube channel of the BJJ Fanatics founder.
Unless you just so happen to be the best competitor on the planet, every single person faces adversity and enters a tournament with the knowledge that they may come out on the losing end. Even if you are leagues ahead of your peers, combat sports are still an incredibly unpredictable thing to take part in and even the greatest competitors in history have lost. Gordon Ryan lost to Aaron ‘Tex’ Johnson in one of his first appearances as a black belt and has been defeated twice by Felipe Pena, while Roger Gracie lost several times to both Xande Ribeiro and Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza.
With the knowledge that anybody can lose at any time and even the greatest competitors don’t retire undefeated, it can often be hard for athletes to enter tournaments completely mentally prepared for them and without any doubt in their mind. Overcoming that doubt is often a challenge, but Gordon Ryan and Andrew Wiltse both have their own unique takes on how to meet it head on.
