Super Squad Letter #38

Side Effect Of An Individual Sport, In The Commentary

Side Effect Of An Individual Sport

This is one of those things that comes with an individual sport.

At the end of the day, whatever happens in your career and your results are solely on you. You have teammates in the gym, but they can’t fight with you.

I remember experiencing this for the first time when I was coming up. It always hits the hardest during acardio workout or weight cut. And I think that amplified the feeling even more 🤣

I’m talking about the feeling of loneliness.

To be honest, I don’t think it ever goes away. Even where I’m at today in my career, I still feel it sometimes. Again, I think that just comes with the individualistic nature of the sport.

Having a strong circle definitely makes it easier. That’s why I’m grateful for mine. Still, no matter how much love you get from people, it’s up to you to make it happen.

But on the come up, man that feeling was hard to shake off.

Especially when there was so much uncertainty during that period of my life. Fighting itself comes with uncertainty, but my goal was to get into the UFC.

I knew I would get to the UFC eventually, but I had no idea when. These thoughts crossed my mind even when I was an amateur.

I was successful as an amateur. But I still wondered if I could make a living off fighting. Or what’s gonna happen when I fight actual pros.

How long will it take before I’m UFC ready? How will I know when I’m UFC ready?

When there’s so much uncertainty in the air, it cracks open the door for those thoughts of doubt to creep in.

On top of that, when you’re on the grind, you don’t really have time for social activities.

I remember checking up on my friends from high school on social media. I’d see them having fun, going to parties, going to the club, and joining fraternities or sororities. Enjoying all the stuff that’s fun when you’re young.

As more time passed, I’d see them graduate college, get real jobs, and do regular adult stuff. Meanwhile, I’m still grinding on the regional circuit and wondering what’s next.

Sitting there alone in your thoughts can be brutal.

So I tried to spend time with my mom or my best friends when I could. But those times were very rare because of how time consuming this sport is.

It’s funny because some of my friends thought I had things figured out. I had this big goal and I was working towards it every day.

Even though I felt like their lives were progressing faster, they were out in the ether trying to figure things out too.

Maybe loneliness comes with chasing goals. If you’re going through it, maybe keep your mind focused on the goal or create a goal to work towards.

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In The Commentary Booth

For those of you who don’t know, I’ve been doing commentary for a while now.

I do mostly local shows in the DMV area. And I’ve done both pro and amateur fights. To be honest, commentating is the most fun activity I do around fighting.

It’s rare for me to watch fights without some skin in the game. Sometimes I watch UFC fights for fun, but it’s mostly because there are fights in my division or there’s someone I want to learn from.

But that’s why I love commentating amateur fights. Believe it or not, amateur fights are where I can just be a fan.

There’s not much I can learn from these guys, so I’m watching from a pure entertainment standpoint.

Fortunately for me, I’ve never had problems with being on the mic. Maybe it’s from my childhood.

As a kid, I was so shy and timid. I had to learn how to navigate the world and fit in my own way. Now as an adult, I understand that we’re all human and we all feel the same things.

So it’s the complete opposite for me now, I can just express myself freely. One of the things that helps me is that I pretend that I’m talking to my friends.

With that mindset, I don’t really have to worry about things to say and I can sound more charismatic.

And it helps me when it comes to describing the play-by-play of what’s happening.

I can easily break down everything that’s going on from a really detailed point of view. But nobody is gonna really understand that unless they’re a fighter. Plus, there are better guys on YouTube who do a better job than me.

So if I pretend I’m talking to my friends or some regular dude at the bar, I naturally make things simple to understand. That way, nobody’s gonna be lost or bored 🤣

As long as I’m not doing ad-reads or any of the commercial stuff, I’m good. I just want to be the color guy.

Talk about the fights, the techniques, and give my insights as a fighter. I’ve been training and fighting at a high level for a very long time now, so I know a few things.

And at the end of the day, the fighters are the ones who have the hard job and pressure. We’re just talking and watching the show.

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We’re Back!

After taking some time to recover from work-related injuries I suffered while moonlighting as a featherweight in the UFC, I am finally back on the horse.

That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working though. Every Wednesday at 6pm on the dot, I make sure the algorithm is up-to-date and properly calibrated.

I know you guys have missed out on plenty of millions while I was gone. But that’s why we’re gonna go BIG this weekend.

Highlights from this week:

• Never bet against cool haircuts

• Trigonometry

• Born with no soul vs. getting your soul taken away

• An Arrancar is making his UFC debut!!

• The Twerk-man… throw some bands on it

• Itachi sucks

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The Wild, Wild, West Of Sponsors

Man, I’ve seen some weird sponsors in this sport.

Fortunately (or unfortunately), I’ve never had any weird sponsors try to work with me. When I was in the regional circuit, I had some obscure brands on my shorts. But Alienware used to look out for us too.

A lot of fans are pretty new to MMA, so you may not have seen what it was like back before the Reebok days.

When Joe Rogan was coming up, one of his biggest sponsors was a fleshlight brand. If you don’t know what that is, Google it. Just make sure there’s no one around you 🤣

And how can you call yourself an OG fan if you don’t remember Condom Depot 🤣

Sometimes people like to give the UFC shit for taking away outside sponsors with the Reebok deal. But at the same time, there were some wild sponsors taking over the game.

But at least most of y’all have been through the crypto days. Who remembers Marshall Inu? 😂😂

Wild times.

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Sodiq’s Pop Culture Updates

Attack On Titan’s actual last episode came out. This isn’t Final Season Pt. 20, it’s a wrap now.

I read the manga a long time ago, and I thought it was alright. If they didn’t drag out the anime for so long, I think it could’ve had a bigger impact on the culture.

But Jujutsu Kaisen has everybody’s attention right now. And if you’re not on it, what are you doing?

Everyone is starting to see what I’ve been saying for a long time. Sakuna is an asshole and Toji is the truth.

In this last episode, Sakuna spent the whole time toying with Jogo when Jogo was going all out. The deal was if Jogo could hit Sakuna once, Sakuna would work under him forever.

But poor Jogo was going insane and couldn’t scratch Sakuna.

Jogo launched his ultimate move (a giant meteor) at Sakuna and some innocent bystanders. Sakuna told everyone that if they tried to dodge the meteor before he said when, he would kill them all 🤣

Of course, he didn’t tell them to move until the last second. But man, if that were me and I wasn’t fast, I would take my chances. If I did have speed, I’m definitely not messing with Sakuna.

We also saw Toji kill himself because he realized he was fighting his own son. They did a really good job with the animation on that fight scene.

And shoutouts to Megumi’s bunny technique. In the episode, one of the bunnies managed to kick Toji in the face. So shoutouts to that gangster bunny 🤣

I remember this Shibuya arc in the manga and it was straight fire after fire. Chapter after chapter of greatness.

I don’t want to spoil anything… but Sakuna is gonna catch a lot of bodies. You’re gonna feel really bad for Yuji.

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That ends it for this week’s Super Squad Letter!

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Peace,
Super Sodiq Yusuff