Hawaiian MMA Veteran Reveals His “Biggest” Mental Health Struggles After 8 Years in UFC

Mental health issues are very common in sports, but more so in combat sports. That’s because of the intense physical, mental, and emotional pressure that comes with each fight. Dan Ige, who’s been in the UFC for almost a decade now, recently spoke about his mental health challenges and how he’s been able to handle those issues while drawing inspiration from legendary martial artist Bruce Lee.

Dan Ige joined Dana White‘s promotion in 2017, and his experience over the years has led him to conclude that the challenges that he faces are always different and vary. To deal with it, the Hawaiian UFC fighter took inspiration from one of Bruce Lee‘s famous quotes. This helps him remember that achievements aren’t going to come easily to anybody, so people need to build the ability to cope and navigate their way through the obstacles.

“The biggest mental challenge during a fight camp, I feel, like this always changes based on certain, certain circumstances, fight to fight, camp to camp. It’s always different,” Dan Ige stated on his Instagram account. “As I’m actually saying this, it reminds me of that Bruce Lee quote. He says, ‘To help with the circumstances, I create opportunity or I create the circumstances.'”

Dan Ige further stated, “And that’s just something you have to remind yourself. You’re always going to deal with adversity. You’re always gonna have unfortunate circumstances that, if you let it, they will hinder you.” The featherweight veteran also revealed that if there’s one thing that he tries to do on each and every fight camp, it’s controlling the thought process. He tends to keep himself invested in the moment and not think too far ahead, as Ige claims that this helps in avoiding anxiety whenever there’s a fight coming up.

“So, for me, in a camp, my biggest challenge is always finding ways to just be present. When I get stuck in that future tense, thinking about the fight, thinking about the weight cut, that’s essentially where anxiety stems from,” Dan Ige added. “We get caught in this way of thinking. We’re always thinking about tomorrow or thinking about the next day… By the time you actually get to the fight, you’re there, but you’re not really there.”

Dan Ige recently registered his tenth career defeat, against Patricio Pitbull, and his third loss in his last five fights. The former Bellator fighter wasn’t very happy with his performance, but gave his fellow veteran counterpart his flowers for bringing the fight to him.

Patricio Pitbull praised UFC veteran after their fight

Patricio Pitbull, a seasoned veteran in MMA, failed to make an impression on his debut, but made sure not to repeat the same outcome at UFC 318 when he stepped inside the Octagon for a second time. He earned a unanimous decision win, but the 37-year-old wasn’t satisfied with his performance. Pitbull expressed his gratitude to Dan Ige for giving him a “tough” challenge while praising his skill set and was happy to have scored a win over UFC veteran.

“I’m happy, but I know I can do better. Much respect to my opponent. Dan Ige’s a very tough guy. … He’s very good, but I’m better. I proved it today,” Patricio Pitbull stated after UFC 318. Well, at the moment, there is no word on when Dan Ige will fight next, so we’ll have to wait and see who he fights next and if he can return to the win column.

Coming back to the mental struggles he was talking about, he’s not the only fighter who faces challenges on that front, as there are many others as well. Let us know what you have to say about Dan Ige’s confession on social media. Drop your comments below.