Seeing it

“About a month out from a fight, I’ll start visualising the day of the fight. I’ll go over everything: eating breakfast, watching a movie with my mates, going home, getting my gear ready… I go over all this in my head so that when it comes to the day there are no surprises – I’ve been over everything a thousand times. I visualise driving to the stadium, going backstage, getting my hands wrapped, warming up, waiting to get called out. Then I visualise myself walking out in front of that crowd, having tunnel vision on the guy I’m fighting. It’s like drilling your takedowns, or your punches – it’s drilling your mind so that when the day comes there’s nothing new,

nothing surprising.“

James Te Huna James Te Huna
Images: Warren Clarke

Wear and tear

“I’ve had probably 50-odd dislocations of my right shoulder. In my first MMA fight, back in ’03, I threw my opponent on the ground, posted my arm, and it just popped out. I managed to get back to my feet, saw my shoulder and thought, what the fuck… He put me back on the ground and I had to tap out. Ever since then, it’s come out in training, in fights, when I’m sleeping. I had a big fight against a Japanese opponent, Takahiro Oba, and in the first minute of the fight, I knew I was going to finish this guy. But then I got in a position on the ground where I was trying to sweep him, and my shoulder came out again. The ref saw it was locked out, so he jumped in and called the doctor into the ring. The doctor didn’t know how to put it back in – he was talking to the ref, discussing whether or not to stop the fight. And while they were talking I ran over to my cornerman and he yanked on it and it fell back into place. I turned around, waving my arms, saying, ‘I’m ready! I’m ready, see?’ So the ref started the fight and the crowd was going off. It ended up going the full three rounds and I got the decision on him. Had to work bloody hard for that. Eventually, in 2007, I had to have surgery on the shoulder. I got the right surgeon, did the right rehab, took a year off – really looked after it. After that I won six fights in a row, five of them by stoppage. I guess it helps having two arms to fight with instead of one and a half!”

Showtime

“At UFC 110 in Sydney I was fighting a guy called Igor Pokrajac – he trains with the Croatian fighter Cro Cop. Before that fight I was positive – I’d done all my visualisation – but as soon as they pulled that curtain back and I walked out, I just got so distracted, man! I found myself looking at the crowd … I had nothing! It was so huge, you know? I remember walking up the steps to the cage, then I had a big blank spot. The next thing I remember is me on my hands and knees, looking at the canvas, and some bloke on my back trying to choke me. I thought, fuck, the fight’s already started! So that first punch must’ve hurt me. But I fought back … At the opening of the third round we came out, traded a wee bit, then he launched a head kick. I saw it coming but because I was gassing I only put my left arm up to block it – a flimsy block. And then I heard a noise that sounded like a wet stick breaking. I knew from then that I probably had a good minute to finish the fight otherwise I would’ve been in real trouble. So I got a takedown. He got to his feet. I slammed him again. Then I got him in the crucifix position, him on his back, me on top. I had a free shot at his face and I was punching him, one after the other, boom-boom-boom, but it was with the broken arm, so the punches weren’t too hard! Then I heard the referee say, ‘Protect yourself or I’m stopping the fight.’ And I knew I had him from there.”

‒ Aaron Scott