Michael Easter

I would visualize that of like not giving up that moment of adversity where you assume you're going to experience that in a fight and then you've got to get back up.

The problem was is that I would experience this almost every fight, I think, because I kind of talked it into existence.

It was like, okay, I need that moment to happen.

And then the win happens.

So maybe a little short-sighted in what I was actually trying to accomplish.

What would you have done differently?

I think now I would do...

I would do it a little different in the sense that, well, I did start to do it differently.

I started to focus more on the things that I really, really wanted out of each moment.

Not the things that I needed to fall back on, but the best things, like what I really wanted out of every single moment in the fight.

And that was getting the takedown, getting this, getting the grounding pound.

So I focused on all those positives because...

And maybe there was something to be said about having the preparation of like getting through the hard times.

But at this point, I knew that the proof was in the pudding.

Like I know that I'm tough.

I don't think that I have to prove it or that I have to focus on visualizing that because that's not what I want to happen in a fight.

That's what will happen.

And I know that I already trust that in myself because I've already put myself in this situation.

So I've built that trust response that I know that I'll keep pushing.

I know that I will keep fighting.