Jason High

Really interesting piece on Jason High (mma fighter, beaten by Shoot fighters Marius Zaromskis) that was posted on sherdog today.

Extract

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One of the most frustrating parts about interviewing athletes, especially MMA fighters, is that often the focus of the world is painfully narrow and boring. It can be excruciating to extract the interesting nuggets of fighters’ personalities, if they even exist. Though there are some exceptions, most of MMA’s “personalities” are either gimmicky self-promoters or simply those unafraid to say what’s on their mind.

It’s a trade-off. What many elite fighters lose in terms of being interesting people is often made up for in the fact that their obsessive single-minded focus on MMA makes them great fighters. It is a sport that is both delicate and brutal, where the smallest mistakes -- like dropping your left hand -- are the differences between the greats and the also-rans. While it would be novel to hear Georges St. Pierre talk as if he were Dos Equis’ “Most Interesting Man in the World,” he is likely the fighter he is because of the level of asceticism he observes. Many fighters develop holes in their personal lives almost as a rite of passage to become elite, owing to the sacrifices they make.

So I wonder about Jason High. I wonder as he tells me about the time he was kicked off a campsite in Kelowna, British Columbia, for wielding a wiffle ball bat. I wonder when we talk about the technology of breast pumps and when he explains his love of the History Channel. I wonder if -- for his relative youth, his skills, his athletic upside -- he’s just too swell of a guy to capitalize on his potential.

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Interesting how the author comments on how fighters use this asceticism or extreme self denial to attain their higher ambitions.

What do you think is the mechanics behind this theory?

there is nothing more dangerous than a happy fighter.

choose the middle path.