Super Squad Letter #59

Decompressing, Sorry, Fight Week Thoughts

Decompressing

Even though I’ve been doing this a long time, one thing I’m starting to realize is that it is very difficult to decompress from MMA when you’re a UFC fighter 🤣

Every time I go on Twitter, I just want to talk about the latest episode of Shogun. But I find myself going down a rabbit hole of Max Holloway highlights 😅

Wait, I’m supposed to be decompressing. And it doesn’t hit me until I see Diego’s mullet 🤣

I even told my coach I wanted to stay away from the gym and MMA in general to clear my mind.

About an hour into my morning, I started wondering what they were doing at practice… 🤣🤣

It’s one of those things where I probably shouldn’t force myself to relax. On the other hand, I feel like I need to force myself to relax. 

I definitely need a break.

It’s been a long camp and the results weren’t what we wanted. I definitely need to clear my mind. 

The problem is everything I do is kinda centered around MMA. So all my algorithms aren’t helping and conversations with strangers are probably gonna be around MMA. 

It’s giving me a laugh though 🤣

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Sorry

My coaches got on me really hard for trying to apologize after the fight.

This is why I can confidently say that the people I walk to the Octagon with are people who will always be by my side no matter what. Win or lose.

I’ll never have to worry about them talking down on me or talking bad about me when I’m not there.

It’s a blessing to have strong people by my side.

But that’s why I’m sorry. I understand what my coaches are trying to say, but in my mind, I’m always reflecting on their investment into me like the amount of hours we put into practice. 

Just because I’m the center of attention doesn’t erase what anyone else is doing. Everyone else has their own lives too.

My head coach has family and kids. Garrett is a young guy who could do anything else instead of being stuck in practice with me. My striking coach travels from Thailand a lot. 

So I feel like the only fair way to repay their time and energy is to show the things we worked through. 

But the damn fight ended so fast I couldn’t show anything off 🤣 Freakin’ Diego.

Of course, I was sad and disappointed in the outcome for myself. But I was also sad that I didn’t get to represent the work we put in.

I know they’re not trying to hear it though.

Everyone else doesn’t care about your actual time log. They just care about the result of the competition.

Of course, not getting that second check hurts 😅 

It’s the first fight on my new contract and that second check would’ve meant a lot. 

I’ll be back 👊🏿

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Fight Week Thoughts

I used to hear that as you get older, it gets harder to make weight.

For me, it’s been the opposite. It gets easier every time. Making weight for my last fight was really easy and this one was even easier.

Man, I felt so good this time that I thought about going down to bantamweight 🤣🤣

But considering the outcomes… maybe I should go back to having hard weight cuts 🤣

Nah, I’m messing around.

This was also the first ever fight camp where I didn't get sick. I was able to dial back on a few things to make sure I didn’t crash. 

I was worried about getting sick fight week. But nothing happened, I was completely healthy. 

I remember talking with my manager because I wanted to see how Jamahal was doing. I wanted to send my best wishes. 

My manager said that Jamahal was just upset that he didn’t get to show what he worked on and that I probably felt the same way.

Yup, that’s exactly it 🤣

I don’t mind going in there and getting into a barn burner. Getting caught early is not a good feeling. 

BUT I’ve been on the other side of it plenty of times. It reminds me of the Family Guy meme above 🤣

It is what it is. Much respect to Diego, and wish him the best.

On my end, I gotta lick my wounds and do my part. Like I said, I’m trying to decompress but it’s very hard, I’m not gonna lie.

You know when you have losers in your DMs trolling you and talking shit, you just want to tell them to get a life.

But in situations like this where I’m trying to get away from the gym, training, and working out…

Maybe I’m the one that needs to get a life 🤣🤣

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Sodiq’s Pop Culture Corner

I started watching the Shogun episode on the Sunday after the fight. I only watched like 20 mins, and it was decent. Nothing too crazy, like an 8.5.

But when I got home to finish it, that last 5-10 minutes was craaaaazy. They lost their shit! That episode turned into an 11/10.

Instead of walking over to Osaka and committing suicide, the majority of Torinaga’s clan didn’t want to give up. Which is rare because all they do is commit suicide in this show 🤣🤣

Man, it got to the point where Torinaga’s best friend and mentor said if they don’t fight back, he’s gonna commit suicide 🤣🤣

I’m making it sound funny, but it was such an emotional scene. Shoutouts to those actors. 

You can see the pain and all the regret in their faces. You can tell Torinaga had to stand on his man code. 

He asked his son to be his second. And his son got up and was ready to do the honorable thing and cut off his father’s head while he committed seppuku. 

What a crazy culture.

At the last minute, we find out that it’s all part of the plan. He sacrificed himself for the future of his clan. Man, that’s just insane.

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New Motherland Merch!

When I launched the Motherland shirts, I got a lot of love from you guys. I appreciate it.

They’re back! We usually sell out of the smaller sizes fast. So check it out unless you want a large or XL’s.

If you DM me on Instagram, I may be able to autograph it for you before shipping to you.

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

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Peace,
Super Sodiq Yusuff