I'm not talking about a KO or near KO, or rib crushing kick, but the level right below that. I got nailed last night (bare knuckle - we were NOT going hard) in the teeth and eye and fell on my face going, "Ouch, ****, ouch, ****, ouch, ****." And then thought of the UFC fights on tv two nights ago and remembered that in a real fight or competition my back was open and I got up. The people around me all said how yucky I looked (blood dripping from beard etc) and Sensei hauled me off to clean up and ice it (I did wipe off on the bb who hit me as he apologized, I said, "You get to wear it.").

Now my question is directed to guys who have been able to "shake it off," or whatever they do, and keep their wits and keep fighting. Is this just experience at that level? I really don't want to have to do this a dozen times to learn to keep going!

You get "used to it".
In other owrds, you get programed so that, WHEN you get tagged you react the right way and not the wrong way.

I'm used to fairly hard contact. Perhaps it's just a matter of upping the level of what I'm used to, but I want a magic pill!

I realize that in this case we weren't in a hard competition or fight. I knew that he'd made a "mistake" and I wouldn't be attacked no matter what I did. Perhaps I would have reacted better in a different setting.... I hope.

i think a good amount of how to shake it off has to do with the mental state at the time. if you're in a real fight, and you have adrenaline pumping, i think the reaction would be different. during practice the mind does wander, and not always towards fighting. guys in competition pump themselves up mentally and emotionally to the fight.

It's pretty much conditioning and determination. Personally, I get pretty pumped up when I spar, and pretty much don't feel any pain. If I get hit hard, I'll feel the shock of the impact, but will tend not to register the damage. (Sucks after the session though, as you discover the depth of the injuries.) For me, this is probably due to years of hard hitting in football and a lot of nasty mountain bike wrecks. Taking a hard punch or kick just isn't quite as bad.

In any kind of contact sport, you will get used to the contact. Try to get past the point of being nervous about getting hit, as it'll just hurt more. Learn to accept the fact that you will be hit. Then when it happens, you'll just make a little confirmation that "Yep, he got me good on that one.", but won't be totally shocked and shaken. Sure it sucks, but you'll learn to work through it.

Ronin has the correct. Every time you take that hard shot, you are going act reflexively. If your reflex is to drop and cry, then that is what you do. Over time, you train your reflex to be "cover up and evade," or "flurry of punches," or "takedown attempt." Whatever suits you best is fine. Ultimately you have to just get used to the shock and learn to do the right thing.

You get "used to it".
In other owrds, you get programed so that, WHEN you get tagged you react the right way and not the wrong way.

Ronin's right. Some shots though you can never get used to because they're fucking hard. I know I don't have an iron jaw and can let everyone keep pounding me there, and I've been KOed by a solar plexus shot once before that made me throw up as soon as I got to my corner. The big ones are always gonna hurt to some degree.

I remember my first hard shot, at least it was hard to me. He hit me on the left side of my head above my eye and all I saw was a flash, like someone took my picture. The moral of the story is keep your hands up and close to your face.

...or wear gloves when punching the face....especially with people who are not familar with the feeling of being clocked.

I was wearing gloves and headgear, as was the guy who hit me.

I get nutted a lot . . . And I love it! Unlike a head shot, a groiner doesn't have to be very hard to shock you. However, what it does do is give you an opportunity to push through that feeling and keep going.

Ever been cup checked by someone passing your guard?...
Ever not had a cup on?...

I get nutted a lot . . . And I love it! Unlike a head shot, a groiner doesn't have to be very hard to shock you. However, what it does do is give you an opportunity to push through that feeling and keep going.


*blinks*

You know thats called C.B.T. right ? And its NSFW or sane people .

I'm curious as to what that acronym means. Does it mean he's the type who likes women in stillettos to wreck his sack?

The more you get tagged early on, the better you should become at keeping your chin protected and your guard up. The other night I took a bare knuckle shot to the head..just kind of shrugged it off. But when I was home and showered I had a major headache.
I was reaching for the aspirin.

Thanks for the good comments. Well it's been two days and I woke up with a headache (neck) in the middle of the night and my front tooth is numb and still have blood in my snot have been told to go to an eye dr. to make sure there's no damage that could be cured now with five minutes of lazer and could cause much trouble later. I dunno, maybe I'll check it out. I need to get a picture of this shiner, ****! Somehow I don't think fighting full contact is anything I'm heading into soon.

I'm kinda embarrassed that after a zillion years in ma I don't think I've ever been hit this hard. I did get my same cheek cut open a bit during my Kyokushin bb test. Sensei jumped up, looked at it and said, "It's ok, keep fighting." We sparred plenty hard in KK, but I was never hit this hard in the face. Mostly body shots, though Sensei did KO me with a right the first time we sparred... But that didn't leave any bruises or busted teeth, he just clocked my chin. Later in KK we went full contact to the face, but used kickboxing gear for protection, which is completely different - head gear, mouth guard, large gloves don't equal bare fist - specially the fucker who nailed me (who now can only say, "I'm sorry Pat, I'm sorry Pat etc etc etc etc adnauseum) is built like a brick **** house, I mean he is strong. One of those guys who can do the rings looking like Jesus on the cross. Too bad he didn't have much control. He hadn't worked out for a while and didn't have the control thing down and I was going after him hard and fast - we were doing "line sparring" where one guy attacks and goes all the way across the floor then the other attacks. For lower belts it's no contact and for bbs it's plenty of contact with blocking, jamming, and strikes. When I paired with n00bs I just have them drive punches into my gut the whole time because they never seem to know how to hit, or at least how to hit and move at the same time.