What Do MMA Fighters And Bloggers Have In Common?

Unless you haven’t been paying attention to the sports lately, you probably know that Mixed Martial Arts has exploded into scene and is threatening boxing, wrestling, and other sports for TV time and revenue. If you are not familiar with the sport, it is a violent sport in which people beat each other up until one is victorious. So what do bloggers and MMA fighters have in common?

On the surface, you could say nothing. Blogging is not a sport nor it is physical as is MMA. Believe it or not, MMA fighters and bloggers have more in common than a lot of people think. After all, blogging is a competitive business and you need to be driven and competitive to make it. Mixed Martial Artists and bloggers both understand:

• It takes discipline to succeed: Many bloggers who fail to become superstars in their markets lack discipline to succeed in the blogging world. You can’t slack off when you are full-time blogger. You can’t take weeks off without planning. Just like fighters can’t avoid training and expect a “W” in their next fights. If you have watched any lopsided fights in the past, you can probably see how the same thing could happen to a blogger. When you don’t have the discipline to prepare for your market, you get knocked out by better competition. When you slack off, you knock yourself out! 
• Aggressiveness pays: we have all heard it before in individual and team sports. “We lost because we weren’t aggressive enough.” Being aggressive in business is a must. You can’t be passive and expect to get results. You should plan and execute for success. Fighters don’t plan for a unanimous decision. You can’t plan to get a B on a exam. You should always go for the A or you are not going to make it. If you are not aggressive enough to make things happen, bad things happen to you and your business. This is a given.
• Defense is key: the most successful fighters in the world understand that defense is key. You simply can’t be careless and expect great results. The blogging world is very fluid so you should always protect yourself for the hard times. You should expect new faces in your market, and more formidable competitors. The key is to build your assets and build layers of core competency to protect yourself against more well-rounded rivals. 
• Offense is the best defense: I don’t know about you but I rather have my fate in my own hands. A defensive fighter waits for the opponent’s mistake. You can certainly take that approach but better offense beats better defense 90% of the time. Besides, if you are too defensive in the blogging world, you become a follower and not a market leader. Which one would you want to be? 
• There are multiple ways to get things done: if you have watched MMA before, you have seen all kinds of ways that you can beat your opponent. You can ground and pound them. You can knock them out with a punch, or you can submit them with a choke or arm bar. The same concept applies to the blogging world. No competitor is perfect and everybody has weaknesses. The key is to think outside the box and prepare multiple strategies to knock your competitors out.
• Innovation is a must: many fighters find this out the hard way but your rivals are not sitting for you to dominate your market. They are going to innovate and you should do to. A knockout artist with no ground game can be easily exposed in the MMA world, and the same thing can happen in the blogging world. Don’t be a one trick pony. Innovate and keep your competition guessing.
• It could be a grind: everybody wants to score some quick victories. But the truth is you should always plan for a grind. Success takes time and most successful bloggers and fighters would tell you that. You can’t expect to jump in front of your market with a cool trick or a small victory. If you are not mentally ready for a grind, then you are in the wrong business (whether you are a fighter or a blogger). Understanding the nature of the game is a big key to your success.