Ever noticed how the people who are most skilled on the mats are, more often than not, the calmest ones as well?
It’s as if they’d never get into a physical altercation on the streets… And chances are, they wouldn’t.

Why? Rener Gracie explained in the Art Of Manliness Podcast episode:

I think that people who are most likely to get into a fight – in society – are the people who are least prepared to get into a fight.

And the people who are most prepared to get into a fight, are the people who are least likely to get into a fight.

Why is this the case? Rener believes that it has to do with training and knowing what you’re capable of:

I feel like, the way I have trained my whole life – every single day – I’ve been put to the grinder by having highs and lows.

By learning, discovering, by losing to my older brother for so many years, and having so many amazing students and partners…
I know exactly where I stand.

I am a totem pole of Jiu-Jitsu self-defense effectiveness. I have no doubts about it – I know where I stand.
I know what I’m capable of and what I’m not capable of.

So, I don’t need to get into a fight to prove myself to anyone or to myself.

It’s totally different with untrained people, though:

Whereas I think a lot of people out there, especially when they have a little bit of alcohol in them and when there’s a bit of ego, and when there are friends watching…
A lot of people, who think that they’re tougher than they are, feel the really strong desire to prove – to the surrounding audience and to themselves – that they are as tough as they think they are.

Now, ironically, they usually aren’t. People, as a general rule, tend to overestimate their fighting capabilities.

 

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