Iron chins and crazy underdog comebacks...
My first MMA coach used to say, "You can't buy a heart at Ringside."
In other words: no amount of money can give you 'that thing' which makes you eat a punch and keep pushing forward, or peel yourself off the mat when you can't see straight, or the thing that keeps you standing when your wind has been knocked out...
I always liked when he said that to me. He was telling me that I had something which couldn't be bought... and perhaps couldn't even be built.
To be honest, I don't know if you can build heart. I've just always blindly stomped forwards, looking for my next opportunity to hit the guy hitting me.
One thing that I can say for certain is that Fatigue and Fear have no place in combat. Both with erode your heart.
Build your cardio, and in the words of Journey: Don't Stop... Believing.
That's right...
Watch this Muay Thai guy get absolutely flattened, and then weather a storm of punches, before managing to turn the tidet.
The notion of having an 'iron jaw', or just in general 'being hard to knock out' has always fascinated me. This is definitely something that is both a 'gift' and also 'earned'.
Some people just have brains that refuse to shut off. Others have built necks so strong that their brains get sloshed around a fraction of the 'normal' amount.
It's fascinating regardless.
Interestingly enough, this ability does seem to fade over time. While initially, it's good to test your limits, doing so regularly will cost you the ability to take a punch.
As you're about to see, it's happened to the best chins in the business: when your brain begins to be injured, it does NOT get 'stronger'.
Here's a pretty darn good video on 'good chins that got cracked'.
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