If you’re looking for inspiration in combat sports, then you really don’t have to look any further from Brian Stann. An upbeat and honest character, Stann is a BJJ purple belt and a UFC veteran who earned a 6-4 record under the promotion, having fought some of the top-ranking fighters of his generation. He has retired from fighting in 2013 and has since then (and until 2017) been one of the UFC’s commentators.
However, Stann wasn’t only an MMA fighter. He’s also a former Marine who was awarded the Silver Star; USA’s third-highest award for valor in combat.

With all that experience in place, Brian appeared on MMA Hour and decided to share 4 pieces of advice for aspiring fighters:

Number one is save your money. Look, it’s not gonna last forever. One catastrophic injury and you could spend a whole year without making any money. Save your money.

Number two, you have to very carefully manage your brand. You cannot afford to be out with some friends, have a couple of drinks, and start firing off social media posts.
We live in a world where information goes quickly and your brand could be considerably damaged because something you say is misconstrued or taken out of context, and you could get really crushed by the media and fans. You just can’t afford that in this sport.

His last two pieces of advice have to do with training smart and what fighters should do outside of training as well:

The third thing I would tell them is do not leave your chin in the gym.

Back in my day, we sparred so hard and trained so hard, we left years of our career in the gym and we weren’t getting paid. We over-spar in this sport, we beat up our bodies too much in this sport. We need to look at it through a longevity lens. How do you arrive to your fight in the best condition, with the freshest ability to take damage.
Because as good of a fighter as you want to be, if you start getting knocked out — look at Luke Rockhold. He’s as skilled as any fighter out there; but all of a sudden, someone who is worse than him can clip him and win a fight. So he’s probably taken some time off to rejuvenate, recoup. You’ve got to be careful how you train.

The fourth thing is have a hobby. Know there’s a lot of downtime in fighting, and I think fighters need to understand they’re only gonna spend a very short window of their life doing this.

What are you gonna do next? And don’t be afraid to invest in that. Whether it’s going and finishing your degree, getting a graduate degree, going and learning an additional skill, investing in a business or doing something else, you will have to do something else for a living when this is over.
Do not be afraid to invest some time in that. It could be healthy for you. It could take some pressure off you during your fight career, just mentally. You’ve got to be prepared and start putting in some time for what’s next.