The Flawed Genius
Vladimir Putin
recently met Khabib Nurmagamedov and his father after Khabib retained the
lightweight UFC in order to congratulate him on his victory against Conor
McGregor. He also joked to his father that he should go easy on Khabib with
punishment for the brawl that ensued after the title fight. His father said to
the President, Khabib was also a lot to handle when he was younger also. The President
interestingly replied that maybe if he hadn’t been too much to handle, then he
may not be world champion. The term “flawed genius” somewhat resonates with
this. In mixed martial arts, to subject oneself to such intensity and risk
takes some level of what many would call ‘craziness.’ And indeed to excel at it
at the level Khabib has, it takes some doing. Mike Tyson it could be argued was
the most fearsome boxer of all time. He literally wiped out his opponents, in
often times brutal fashion. His challenges in how he handled his anger and
other issues were very visible. But, from a boxing perspective, during his prime
and reign no one came close. Jon Jones, former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion
had a very interesting rise in the sport. He entered it with an intention to
support his girlfriend and their newly born children. He always had confidence
in his street-fighting ability, and had picked up a few martial arts also. He
took to the sport like a phenomenon. The usual process is to have a few entry
level fights, eventually qualifying oneself for a title-shot, and many
potential hurdles at each stage. Jon Jones had an exceptionally explosive and
unpredictable fight style being well versed in the striking arts as well as Greco-Roman
wrestling. Most mixed martial arts fighters have a gameplan or strategy tailored
to their inherent physical strengths, perhaps including some violent intention
to kill the fight off. Jon Jones had a creative ability to execute his violent
intentions, with very few who could stop him. In 2008 he first fought in the
UFC, and in 2011 and 8 fights later he won the UFC Light Heavyweight Title
beating the holder Mauricio Rua after 3 rounds with referee stoppage in a
technical knockout with punches and knees. Since then he defended his title for
10 fights. Only one fighter in his entire career has been able to take him
down, and was the one which until this day gave him his hardest fight,
Alexander Gustaffson. Jon Jones on all levels is clearly a different beast. Now,
outside of mixed martial arts, he has been convicted of driving under the
influence of drugs and alcohol, and also a hit and run on a pregnant woman. He
has also been charged with using performance enhancing drugs. Always his
achievements have been accompanied with other kinds of extreme behavior. Every
time after such an incident, he has owned up and said he owes it to himself and
others to improve, however we have seen recurrences. In my opinion, Jon Jones is
the most exciting fighter to watch, and pound for pound greatest fighter in the
UFC. He has an incredibly multi-faceted artillery, which he uses to great
effect, however there is something to be said about the mental makeup of such a
personality. There is duality.
Vice in Virtue
Listening to a seminar
by one of my favourite speakers and teachers Govinda Das, he was breaking down
the mental makeup of some of the warriors of ancient Vedic history. Talking
about dharma, which has no translation in a non-Vedic language, he said dharma
is not love, it is not loyalty, it is not courage, it is not honesty, but it is
part of a narrative, with all factors considered holistically; it is the why. There
is a very fine balance to be broken if certain high energy activities are to be
engaged in. Warriors in that day needed to hunt for two main reasons; one was
to inhibit population growth of animals, and the other was to keep afresh their
ability to take life. If a warrior doesn’t know the feeling of taking life,
they may feel uncomfortable in fighting in a war, which is their role. The
descriptions from the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic, are quite vivid. One
warrior Bhima, who was essentially noble, swore to tear open his enemies’ chest
and drink his blood. When breaking down the mindset of why someone might commit
such act, heed must be given to their mental makeup. The warrior class, is an
extreme class and the level of their commitments, anger, and passion is increasingly
difficult to understand as time goes by and lifestyles, values and norms fundamentally
change. When we hear of great scandals of greatly successful people, they can
be shocking, but if we look to understand the mental makeup of such
personalities, a lot more makes sense. The problem is, we tend to want to see
only the dimensions that suit us, and not holistically. Social media is helping
make more clear the different sides to individuals, however it still doesn’t
represent the mental makeup completely. Each person has a set of fundamentals
that forms their mental makeup, and being aware of our natural inclinations and
tendencies will help us in our self-discovery. Arjuna, the great warrior when
wanting to flee the battlefield out of resistance to fighting his family, asked
Krishna why he should fight. After describing that a warriors duty is to fight
for their cause, especially if it was a righteous one. Arjuna then asked
Krishna, how do you know what my nature is? Who knows what ones nature is?
Krishna then replied, no one knows what your nature is, and further, if anyone
tries to tell you what your nature is, then they have an agenda! It may be a
good agenda or a bad agenda, but you should know they have an agenda. So,
understanding our tendencies whether it’s in work life, family life, our diet
or fitness, is something that is our responsibility and something that can help
us on our paths to self-discovery.
