Digital Social Hour
Why This UFC Star REGRETS His Past Mental Approach to Fighting | Michael Chandler DSH #955
Fri, 06 Dec 2024
Why This UFC Star REGRETS His Past Mental Approach to Fighting 🥊 Michael Chandler opens up about his journey from self-sabotage to success! 💪 Tune in as Chandler shares how losing taught him to own his mindset and unlock his true potential. From small-town dreams to UFC stardom, he reveals the power of believing in yourself and daring greatly. 🌟 Don't miss out on Chandler's insights on: • Overcoming mental barriers in fighting 🧠 • Balancing family life with a UFC career 👨👩👦👦 • The impact of 10x Health on his performance 💯 • His thoughts on retirement and legacy 🏆 Join the conversation and discover how Chandler's approach to losses transformed his career. This episode is packed with valuable insights for fighters and non-fighters alike! Watch now and subscribe for more insider secrets from top athletes and entrepreneurs. Hit that subscribe button and stay tuned for more eye-opening stories on the Digital Social Hour with Sean Kelly! 🚀 #DigitalSocialHour #MichaelChandler #UFC #MentalToughness #FighterMindset #SeanKelly #Podcast #peakperformanceprotocol #conormcgregor #ufc #mma #heavyweightmma CHAPTERS: 00:00 - Intro 01:27 - Michael Chandler's Training Regimen 02:55 - No Regrets in Fighting 06:07 - Becoming a Complete Fighter 10:16 - Seizing the Moment in MMA 11:57 - Pain Tolerance in Combat Sports 15:33 - Is Jon Jones the Greatest of All Time? 18:12 - Who's the GOAT in Your Weight Class? 20:10 - Regrets About Losses in Career 22:01 - Considering Power Slap Competition 27:35 - Female UFC Fighters vs. Regular Guys 29:45 - Parental Struggles as Motivation 30:40 - Perspective on Parents' Influence 34:30 - Importance of Mental Health in Sports 37:10 - Owning Your Losses in MMA 39:53 - Impact of X3 Bar on Michael’s Life 42:25 - Final Thoughts on MMA Career APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://www.digitalsocialhour.com/application BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [email protected] GUEST: Michael Chandler https://www.instagram.com/mikechandlermma/ SPONSORS: BetterHelp: https://www.betterhelp.com/DSH LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What does Michael Chandler say about his training regimen?
All right, guys, Digital Social Hour. We're here with Michael Chandler in Nashville. Thanks for having me, man.
Chapter 2: Why does Chandler believe there are no regrets in fighting?
Of course, man. Thank you for coming to the greatest city in the world. Absolutely. We were just talking about Nashville off air. This is a good city.
It's in my top three now. I'm not even kidding.
It's really, really cool. Great place to raise a family. You know, I've got two sons and the people are just top notch.
Yeah, I know family is super important to you. When you were deciding where to live, was that a big reason why you moved here?
It was, you know, we we were living in San Diego and we knew we were going to move because I started training in Florida, which that I still train with that team and will train with that team for the rest of my career. And we looked at Texas. We're both my wife and I are both from Missouri.
So Tennessee's got that kind of it's just it's that southern hospitality, a little bit of Midwest, a little south. But it's also a really cool city in the sense that there's so many people moving here. There's so much so much going on. You can have a, have a very, very, uh, fun time. You can also just chill and be relaxed.
Every person we talked to before I moved here was like, this is a great place to raise a family from the schools to the morals, to the, to just the, the fabric of, of the, the ethos of the city. So it's, it's a, it's a great place.
I love it, man. I've been keeping up with your workouts of the day, man.
They are intense. Yeah. Yeah. We, uh, We go pretty hard. You go hard.
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Chapter 3: How has Michael Chandler's mindset transformed his fighting approach?
I love it. No regrets, right? No regrets, man. Do you feel like you're still getting better at your age?
I do. And actually, it was very interesting because I, you know, a little bit of backstory, like over the last year and a half, I've been kind of waiting for this fight with Conor.
Yeah.
Me and Conor McGregor do the Ultimate Fighter. We're on ESPN for 12 weeks. It's a great opportunity. We signed to fight each other in June just a couple months ago. He pulls out of the fight. But between that, I kind of pulled myself out of the gym to just... heal up a little bit, focus on just fitness and, and enjoying life and working on things outside of just fighting.
So I was out of the gym a lot out of the mixed martial arts gym a lot for about over a year. And I feel like I started the next training camp almost as a blank slate. I got rid of some bad habits that I had. I had more of a zeal for the love and the passion that of a sport that really is a grinding, just a, just a grinder. Um,
So you kind of lose a little bit of that passion because you're just constantly grinding. So pulling myself out of it, my last camp I had was the best camp of my life. And the best sparring session I ever had was on Thursday, June 12th or 13th, the day I got the call that Conor pulled out of the fight.
Wow.
So with that, you know, that proof is in the pudding right there. Like, I still feel phenomenal at 38. I love it, man. And I won that world title.
Do you think that fight will ever come back to life?
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Chapter 4: What motivates Chandler's parental struggles?
You know, I do. I think it's really just going to depend on timing and making a decision. I think if this fight's going to drag out any longer, if it's going to be into 2025, I'm probably going to pivot and fight someone else, or I'm at least open to it. And if it is, it's going to be a big fight. It's going to be a top five, top three guy, number one contender.
Give me the opportunity to go out there, beat a guy who's in the top of the division, and then go win the title.
the title winning the UFC gold and being the number one fighter consensus ranked the number one fighter in the world has always been the goal this last year or so chasing the Conor thing and following the Conor the Conor fight was always a nice big it's the biggest fight you can possibly have so it's it makes sense to follow it and exhaust that you know ride that horse till you get bucked off right but
at some point you realize you might have bet on the wrong horse. He's like betting on a three-legged horse in a race.
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Chapter 5: Why is mental health important in sports according to Chandler?
Chapter 6: What are Michael Chandler's thoughts on Jon Jones being the GOAT?
So I like to pull back. But for the most part, man, I'm 100% go all the time. And I think that's why I've had such longevity in the sport. My body feels great. I'm 38 years old. So a lot of guys don't make it at a high level where I'm at this long.
And I think it has a lot to do with coming out of training camp and getting fat and slow and sloppy and getting out of shape and then trying to work back into shape. I just try to stay in shape all the time.
You're like the brawn of the UFC. Trying to.
I love it. And I've done a lot of research. I'm really trying to maximize my body and get the most I can out of it because I got this short window of opportunity to compete in the cage for as long as I can. And before you know it, it's going to be over. And I want to be able to answer that question truthfully. Did I do everything I could with the gifts that I was given?
Did I give all of myself to it when I take those gloves off for the last time? And I think I'm doing an all right job at it, so I'm going to keep on going.
I love it. No regrets, right? No regrets, man. Do you feel like you're still getting better at your age?
I do. And actually, it was very interesting because I, you know, a little bit of backstory, like over the last year and a half, I've been kind of waiting for this fight with Conor.
Yeah.
Me and Conor McGregor do the Ultimate Fighter. We're on ESPN for 12 weeks. It's a great opportunity. We signed to fight each other in June just a couple months ago. He pulls out of the fight. But between that, I kind of pulled myself out of the gym to just... heal up a little bit, focus on just fitness and, and enjoying life and working on things outside of just fighting.
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Chapter 7: How did Michael Chandler handle losses in his career?
I think every fighter is going to have weaknesses. And it's a great question. Because people always say, hey, how much film do you watch? How much you focused on your opponent? How much are you changing your style to the opponent? And I'm not saying my way is the right way. But I've always focused so much more on my strengths, what I'm good at. And I know I've got deficiencies.
I know I've got things I can get better at. And I'm constantly working on those things. But overall, I'd rather double down on my strengths than really focus on all my weaknesses. Because a lot of times you focus on your weaknesses. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy of the shot you don't want to get hit with or you lose the way you don't want to lose.
Or Conor McGregor's got a really great pullback left hand. Let's focus on not getting hit with that. When really, if I just focus on me being the best version of myself... I can find myself not falling into that self-fulfilling prophecy of getting hit with a shot I don't want to get hit with. And ultimately, too, you know, we're all we all got different strengths.
We all got two arms and two legs and we all got certain athletic abilities and gifts, but we're all going to have weaknesses. There's always going to be. And sometimes your weakness is better than some other people's strengths, but they're just not even as close to as good or as effective as your strengths are. So is it really a weakness or is it just you're not as good at certain things?
I'm not going to be great at spinning back kicks or like these certain things that we think we need to do as mixed martial arts. Keep it simple. Keep it. Keep the main thing, the main thing and focus on the strengths.
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Chapter 8: What does Chandler think about the future of his career and potential retirement?
What an interesting mindset. So just doubling down on your strengths.
I think so. I mean, it's just human nature too, right? You have things you're good at.
Yeah.
You probably enjoy those things. You have things that you suck at. And if you just constantly focused on trying to be better at these things that you suck at instead of hiring somebody to do the thing that you suck at and they enjoy, right? So I look at it like that. If I look at it,
my fight performance is like i'm trying to run a business do i want to try to say hey there's these five things that i'm that these guys are better than me at and i know i can work on them a little bit but why don't i just focus on the things that i'm really good at and you know i've got a pretty decent record over the last 16 years won world titles and ranked the top six in the world so i must be doing decent enough to with my strengths and how i how i focus on my strengths so
That's what we focused on, and we'll keep getting better in all areas.
Absolutely. How tough was that transition from Bellator to the UFC?
I think it was not hard physically, because I always say, I think the reason I always wanted to go to the UFC was not because, for any other reason besides the fact that I trained with guys in the UFC, trained with world champions in the UFC, trained with all these guys. And I saw the way they lived their lives, and I thought, man,
I'm living my life more like a champion, training harder, just as disciplined, if not more disciplined and doing all the right things. Right. So I deserve to go out there and be on the biggest platform. So, but mentally it was a scary, scary thing. You know, it's, it's, I was in Bellator. I had very, a very, very secure standing in Bellator. You were champ, right? Champ and, and,
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