News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Preparing for a fight is mentally draining on fighters and different people deal with it in different ways.

I myself have never looked that deep into and for me, it's as simple as, we sign the contract and we fight.

I go into each fight naturally mentally prepared and confident that I'm gonna win. I get this confidence from deep inside myself, knowing that I won't be beaten, that I'm tougher than my opponent, and that I'm fit, strong and ready to take that win.

(Image: Getty)

Everyone is different though. Some fighters use mental coaches to get them prepared because they are nervous, doubtful, excited, scared.

There are a lot of emotions to deal with when preparing for a fight.

Read more:Jimi Manuwa writes for Mirror Fighting

There are fighters of course that like to get into the heads of their opponents.

Getting into the head of your opponent isn't something I've done before but when it's done well it's very entertaining for the audience.

There's nothing like a grudge match when there is real dislike between rivals.

There's no other way to settle it than a fight and the crowd want to see who's gonna win, it's been like that forever.

Everyone loves a rivalry but I myself try not to engage in them.

I think it's pointless for me, but I do think it can work by making your opponent fight emotionally and that can lead to them making mistakes.

Read more:Jimi Manuwa on pre-game preparation

A classic example of this is Conor McGregor vs Jose Aldo. Conor is a master of getting into opponents heads, he does it very well and it can also be very entertaining to watch.

Mike Bisping is also good at it. He always has a problem with somebody and the fans love it. Love them or hate them.

You're gonna watch the fight to see what happens. He's already started trying to get into Anderson Silva's head for this fight and I think it's going to be very interesting to see how Silva deals with it.

Silva's been out for a long time so the extra pressure from Bisping's insults could have an effect. Silva, however, has seen all this before and he dealt with Chael Sonnen who was the king of trash talking and mind games.

We're only a few weeks away from seeing what happens.

Next week, Jimi will be telling us all about his diet, nutrition and the dreaded weight cut.

Photo Credit: FightStorePro