The performance coach had a background in kickboxing and jiu-jitsu, so he could relate more easily to UFC lightweight Jason Saggo.

Saggo hired him after a loss while looking for an edge. He wanted to make sure he was doing everything possible to be successful in the octagon. The two started working together once a week for 60-minute sessions.

Three days before the fight, they were talking about what it would feel like to walk out to cage at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, what the canvas would feel like, the sound of his music. The more senses involved, the better the experience, the coach advised.

The results showed quickly.

Saggo stopped Justin Salas via first-round TKO at March’s UFC 196, reversing a downward trend from a previous fight in which he lost via split-call to Paul Felder at UFC Fight Night 54 and dimmed the light around him following a debut TKO win over Josh Shockley at UFC 74.

It had been Saggo’s first experience working with a sports psychologist. Now, he considers them a part of his team.

Just like regular psychologists, the performance ones aren’t cheap. For a preliminary-card fighter, they can be a significant line item on a budget with thin margins. But the best argument for employing one, Saggo reasoned, was in the way he thought while fighting.

And, more strongly, the lack of lasting brain injury.

“I didn’t take any damage, so I thought, huh, he’s probably on to something,” Saggo told MMAjunkie Radio.

Saggo (11-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) re-upped for more sessions and continues to see the coach, Phil Drolet, in advance of his fight Saturday against Brazilian submission specialist Leandro Silva (19-3-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) on the FOX Sports 2-teelvised prelims of UFC Fight Night 89, which takes place at The Arena at TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main card airs on FOX Sports 1.

Saggo is now more comfortable about the idea and considers mental coaching to be another valuable tool in his training arsenal.

“I don’t think it’s something a lot of people do,” Saggo said of his work. “It’s getting more popular I think.”

In fact, many top-level MMA fighters employ performance psychologists. The tricky part is integrating their message into a team that often includes a striking coach, grappling coach and strength-and-conditioning coach. With so many voices in a camp, it can be easy for a fighter to get lost in a sea of instruction.

Saggo said there’s no strategy discussed in his 60-minute sessions with his mental coach, so the work is focused on putting him in an emotional state where he can perform his best. Solutions are found, and game plans are set, but there is no advice on which punch to throw.

“Against Salas, I was focusing on what I was going to do, my game plan, the combinations I was going to use, managing distance and control, and going in there and letting the butterflies fly in formation,” Saggo said. “Everyone gets nervous, but how do you use those nerves for you instead of against you?”

For his fight with Silva, Saggo added another voice to the team, that of a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt, whom he hopes will prepare him for a possible grappling match. Silva is known for his smothering pressure in the cage.

With his usual coaches at Wulfrun MMA in Bolton, Ontario, Saggo said, “They’ve gotten me more than ready for this fight.”

But the work isn’t complete now until he sits down in a chair and starts talking. There’s a new training camp he undergoes before a fight.

“For me, the last side of it, to make everything complete, is the mental side of it,” Saggo said. “That’s where it all comes together.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 89, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.

MMAjunkie Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show, available on SiriusXM Ch. 93, is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.