boser tanner He does not take back his controversial comments about fighters and mental trainers, but he wants to make clear what was really said and the context.
Boser, who takes on his fellow heavyweights Rodrigo Nascimento Saturday at ufc vegas 60recently did an interview with allstar sports and referred to the fighters as “weak.” Since then, it has received a lot of negative reactions, mainly because fans perceived the comment as a blow to anyone dealing with mental health issues.
For Boser, it wasn’t that at all, but he still stands by what he says when it comes to combat sports mental trainers.
“I wasn’t talking about people who need therapists, or have terrible things going on in their life and need to talk to a therapist, or anything,” Boser told MMA Fighting on. Devils of a morning. “I was talking about sports, a sports psychologist, something specific only to combat sports, which exists and is a popular thing right now, it’s a nice thing. That’s what I was referring to as a mental trainer, these guys that people pay or employ in some way that are outside of their immediate circle at the gym.
“I have coaches, obviously: I have my MMA coach, my striking coach, my wrestling coach, my jiu-jitsu coach, all these guys are my coaches. especially with [the coaches] I’ve been with them for a long, long time, I learn from them in more ways than just skills. I look up to these guys and I try to emulate them in a lot of different ways, so I guess in a way, if you want to see it that way, I guess they [can be] my mental trainers
“What I’m talking about is, I don’t understand, I can’t stay behind, and I do think that a fighter is weak if he has to bring someone who doesn’t know him, who doesn’t train with them, [or] They don’t even know the sport. Most of these guys are outside of the realm you live in, so I wouldn’t listen to a person who doesn’t know anything about fights, what happens in a fight, or the lead up to a fight, or is in your field of training. They don’t know those things. they can’t. Even if they think they do, they haven’t. they don’t know. I wouldn’t listen to that guy tell me how to train or how to fight, so why should I listen to him try to help me think about fighting?
“If you need to listen to that guy to convince you that you’re ready for a fight, or that you’re going to win this fight, or whatever your problem is, a guy who doesn’t know if you’ve got this, or not, then yes, if you need some Tony Robbins *** bulls to get you in the octagon, so yeah, I think you’re definitely at a deficit compared to someone who doesn’t require that.”
Boser returns to the octagon for the first time since June 2021, when he stopped Ovince Saint-Preux in the second round in ufc vegas 30.
The 31-year-old Canadian boxer acknowledged that his comments were not well received and focused on his immediate task, which is Nascimento.
“When I woke up one morning, I had all these notifications, I checked and I was like, ‘Oh shit,'” Boser said. “I read some comments and got the gist of why people were angry. Some of it, sure, was taken out of context by what I saw, and most of it wasn’t thrilled with what I said. But hey, that’s what I said and I don’t take it back in the context that I meant it.
“I didn’t keep up with everything, but a lot of it was, ‘This is why men’s health is bad,’ a lot of toxic stuff about masculinity, stuff to that effect. Some people said that the most successful fighters, I guess [Georges St-Pierre] I had a mental coach, I saw that comment. It worked for him, good for him. I mean, what am I going to say about GSP? I said what I said, there are exceptions to everything. Everybody has their own thing, but that’s how I see it. You can think what you want to think, but I’m also going to think what I’m going to think.”
After a 15-month absence from the Octagon, Boser looks to finish off Nascimento. He has no “faith” in the MMA judges, mostly due to his split decision loss to ilir latifi, a fight that took place three weeks before the Saint Preux showdown.
While keeping his mind on the fight, Boser wants to make his position on his comments clear.
“I was talking and I asked about fighters who have mental trainers,” Boser explained. “I’ve gotten messages from these guys before, guys going into his Instagram DM and saying, ‘Hey, I’m a mental trainer. I work with so and so, and so and so. I see you have the skills, but I guarantee that if you work with me, you will be fighting for a UFC belt.’
“Shut the fuck up, man. Where the hell are you getting off? You’re not helping me train, you’re not here helping me work or supervising any of that. You don’t know anything about me. You’ve seen some of my fights and you’re sure with your help, who I’m going to text with, I’m going to propel myself to the top of the sport. That is an absurd claim.
“Look, if some people can talk to those guys and put themselves like a placebo in a better career, I give them credit. I’m not mad about it. Do your thing, but I’m going to do mine. As a fighter, you have to build yourself a certain way. I think if you need a sport-specific mental trainer to make you believe in yourself enough to go into a cage to fight someone who is in the top echelon of guys in the world, who is trying to kill you in a certain set of rules, you’re after that guy if he doesn’t require it.
“Maybe I’m lucky and my brain works on these things on its own. I have nothing against fighters using a mental trainer, but I believe that if you can mentally control yourself in this aspect more than your opponent, you will have an advantage and be stronger than in that aspect, making them, by proxy, weaker than you In that aspect.”
