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Dealing With a Loss or Poor Performance
By Lance Campbell
Dealing with a loss is a challenge that everyone has to face at some point. Even wrestling legends like Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson have lost matches in their careers. Sanderson was undefeated in collegiate competition, but he lost in “open” tournaments during his redshirt season, and he suffered a few losses in his international career. MMA great Fedor Emelianenko did not lose an MMA bout for nearly ten years, but now he has lost three fights in a row. He has also lost in Combat Sambo at the 2008 World Championships. If you stay in combat sports long enough, you are bound to face defeat at some point.
It is important to deal appropriately with a loss. When you suffer a loss, it is important to put things in perspective. Remember that everyone loses every once in awhile. Losing does not make one a loser. In fact, our losses usually make us better. To me the greatest measure of a competitor is how they deal with a loss.
Randy Couture considered by many to be one of the greatest fighters in the history of the sport of MMA, yet his losses are in the double digits. Losing is often a door to better things. If you look at Couture’s career, after suffering back-to-back losses, it appeared that his career might be over. Instead, he resurrected his career with a dominating performance over Chuck Liddell.
He remained the dominant fighter in the light-heavyweight division until he suffered two losses to Liddell. After retiring from the sport, he came out of retirement to resurrect his career again with a dominant performance over then reigning heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia. He followed that up with an even more dominant victory over Gabriel Gonzaga.
He suffered back-to back losses to Brock Lesnar and Minotauro Nogueira, but won three straight bouts after dropping back down to the light-heavyweight division. His last two victories were fights that he totally dominated. He retired from competition after suffering a brutal knockout loss to Lyoto Machida just a couple of months shy of his 48th birthday. Couture redefined the age in which combat athletes can remain competitive. To despite his losses, he is the most beloved fighter of all time.
Sometimes a loss opens up opportunities that otherwise would not exist. It is one of the most difficult things in sports to comeback from a loss. That is why it is often when we see the best come out in athletes. Coming back from a loss is a great opportunity to prove what you are really made of.
MMA fighters often have months in between fights to come to grips with a loss, readjust their mental frame, and prepare for their next fight. Many combat athletes do not have the luxury of time on their side.
Coaching wrestling at the high school level, I have found that the quarterfinals seem to be the most difficult round for many athletes mentally. The nice thing about the quarterfinals is that in the California high school state tournament, it is the last round of the first day. If you win you move on to the semis the next morning. If you lose, you will drop into consolation in the morning. This gives the athlete several hours to deal with the loss.
I have literally had as little as five minutes of rest in between matches in my career. When you have such a short period of time, it is particularly difficult. This is where visualization can also play a roll. I do not advocate spending a lot of time visualizing losses, but to practice visualizing a loss, and coming back from that loss can help an athlete to get into the proper state of mind to make a comeback when suffering an unexpected loss.
One of the most difficult things about coming back from a loss is that as athletes, we train so hard to accomplish a goal. When we suffer a loss that ends our dream, it is very difficult to come back from that. If your dream was to win a state championship, a loss in the state tournament means that you can no longer achieve that goal. If you have the opportunity to come back and compete, it might be very hard to find the motivation to battle back through consolation for something that is less than what you were working for.
When I was a senior in high school, it was my goal to win the league championship. There were seven schools in our league, and throughout the season, I had been .500 in league dual meets. I had easily beaten wrestlers from three of the other teams, but I had lost to the other three.
I knew going in that it was going to be tough for me to achieve my goal. One of my losses was a very close and controversial match that I believe I lost due to a few bad calls that all went against me. I believed that I could beat that kid.
One of the losses was early in the year, and I had improved much since then. That kid had beaten me badly, but I felt that I had closed the gap. The other wrestler was an old friend from junior high school. He was favored to win the league. The score in my match with him was close. I knew that I probably could not beat him, but with a good strategy, I had a shot.
When I got to the tournament, I learned that the kid who had nipped me in the match with the bad officiating was out with chicken pox. My first match would be against the kid that was replacing him at varsity. I underestimated him. Thinking that he was JV behind the kid that I barely lost to, I should have no problem with him. By underestimating my opponent, I set myself up for failure. I lacked the intensity that I should have had. I made an error that I should not have made, and I paid for it! He caught me in a cradle and pinned me.
I was devastated. I think I could have handled a loss to either of the other two athletes in the tournament, but in my mind this was not a match that I should have lost. I was so bummed that I would not achieve my goal that the thought crossed my mind to quit, or even to throw my next match. The only thing that kept me from doing that was the fact that I knew that if I did, I would continue to run into this kid, and he would never let me forget it. I pinned him, but it was not a great match.
My next match, I was still not over the loss from my first match. My opponent was a kid that I had defeated four times previously, including three pins. I wrestled horribly. I think I lost the match by major decision. Now, I was really upset. I had lost to someone that I know I never should have lost to. It should not have even been a close match.
After that loss, I was angry, but mentally ready to make my next opponent pay for the frustration that I felt with the way that my tournament had gone. I dominated that match pinning my opponent early in the second period of the match. My opponent told me later that I was the toughest opponent he had ever faced! I ended up fifth. It was a big disappointment. The worst part was that I knew that I should have placed higher.
My story is not unique. Many athletes have had similar experiences. I have seen many athletes do well, until they suffer a loss, and then they self-destruct. This seems to happen frequently for athletes who lose in the semi-finals of a tournament. I witnessed many who have lost a semi-final, and then lost their next two matches to finish sixth.
Coming off of a loss, athletes have to control their emotions. When you lose, you should be disappointed, especially if you know you should have won. However, you cannot dwell on it. Accept the fact that you lost, and focus on the task at hand. You have to comeback from the loss. The only thing worse than losing a match you know should not have, is losing more than one match that you should not have. It would be a lot easier to deal with the disappointment of not winning a championship if you placed third, than if you placed sixth!
People react to losing in different ways. Some people seem to shake it off easily, and others seem to get very upset. Usually, the more emotional reactions are detrimental to performing well… especially, if you will be competing again soon. It is helpful to be really honest with yourself.
Losing does not necessarily equate to a poor performance. Ask yourself, “Why did I lose?” If the answer is that your opponent was just that much better, then there is no use getting emotional over it. It is okay to be angry, but use that anger to fuel your training to improve.
When I competed against Travis Lutter at the Ultimate Submission Showdown, I was out of my league. Lutter dominated everyone that night, including Ryron Gracie, and David Avellan. I knew going in to the competition that I was unlikely win. Nonetheless, I was embarrassed to have been dominated as badly as I was. If you spoke to me that night, you might have got the impression that it did not bother me. I did not let my performance spoil my night. However, you did not want to be my training partner in my next practice! It was one of the best practices I have ever had! I channeled that emotion into a positive direction that made me a much better grappler.
It is also important to not make excuses for a loss. Most of us have a tendency to make excuses. There used to be a t-shirt called the “wrestlers excuse shirt”. It included several excuses, most of which I have heard, and many I have used in my career. The problem with excuses is that they do not help us to improve, and they make it easier for us to avoid accountability for our losses. When you lose, you have to look at what you can do differently, and try to make improvements to that end.
Dealing with a poor performance is another challenge. Often times this is part of dealing with a loss, but sometimes we may perform poorly and still win. Win or lose, we need to be honest with ourselves about our performance. That does not mean that we have to beat ourselves up for a poor performance, but we need to look honestly at how we performed and try to look for areas that we can improve, even after a good performance. This is why I recommend keeping a log. This will help you to pinpoint what has helped you to perform well, and what has hurt your performance.
Most athletes do not have too much trouble dealing with a poor performance, as long as they win. Losses for any reason can be difficult to deal with. One strategy for dealing with a loss is to use reframing.
Instead of looking what the loss represents from a negative perspective, reframe this into a positive. What opportunities did this create? Use empowering self-talk and look for the positive.
Here are some possible things to say to yourself during a time when you have suffered a loss:
“Okay, now they will see what I am really made of. “
“This is my opportunity to show how tough I really am.”
“How does this work to my advantage?”
These type of statements and questions reframe the loss. Sure, you are disappointed. However, no matter how disappointing, a loss does not destroy your opportunity to accomplish much more in the future. In fact, it might be catalyst for bringing out your best. Winners tend to believe that all things somehow work to their advantage. If you learn to think like this you are thinking like a winner. If you think like a winner, you will become one.
Consider Dan Gable. He was undefeated in high school, and college heading into the final match of his collegiate career. He lost that match to Larry Owings. He had to be crushed by that loss. Gable has stated that he learned a lot from that match, and that ultimately, he went on to accomplish much more because of the loss. He would go on to win the 1972 Olympics without having a single point scored against him. He would then move into coaching, where he would lead the Iowa Hawkeyes to a record 15 NCAA National Championships.
Randy Couture was twice defeated in the NCAA finals, and never won the NCAA tournament. To despite winning the nationals in Greco Roman, he never won a spot on an Olympic team. Couture has said that if he had, he might not have had the hunger to keep competing that has driven him to be one of the greatest and most revered MMA fighters of all-time.
While a loss represents disappointment, it does not define who you are. You can use a loss to catapult you to higher achievements. Believe that everything happens for a reason, and that it will ultimately lead to better things for you. If you believe this, you will be in a position, to overcome the loss, and make your losses serve you.
Lance Campbell is a former high school and collegiate wrestling coach, co-founder of Impact Wrestling Camps and Clinics (http://impactcac.com) and the author of Mental Training: How to Prepare Mentally for Combat Sports available at Amazon.com.
