Mansher Khera Opens Up About Fixing Lack of Focus Ahead of 2016 IBJJF Worlds

We caught up with Mansher Khera in New York to find out what he needs to do to fix his performance issues ahead of 2016 Worlds. He is the first person to go from white to black belt under Marcelo Garcia. He received his black belt in 2015, and since then has had a mixed bag of results. A silver at No-Gi Worlds marked him out a a fresh young talent, but he failed to make the podium at either Europeans or Pans. He went 40 minutes in a sub-only match with Eddie Cummings whereas most people don’t last 40 seconds. 

“This is my first Worlds at black belt, so let’ just put that out there. And with that comes a lot of pressure. People expect you to do well but they don’t expect you to win, it’s like a common thing, the second year is a good year at black belt. 

“I feel like I’ve doubted myself in the past, I’ve been there and not done it. I made it to the finals of No-Gi Worlds, I feel like I should have won but I had doubts in my mind. 

“At the beginning of this year I was winging it a bit, as far as my training and my weight cut went. I wasn’t as focused. I was not focused, and I feel like this is a big problem for me in my career. I have ups and downs where I do really well in a tournament and then I don’t do so well. 

“It’s because I sometimes lose focus, and I’m working on that now more than ever. I have to be consistent with my results. 

I’m focused and I know what I want. I tend to overthink things, I’m trying to clear things and accept what I’m doing here. Accept the work I put in and really focus on mistakes, not just talk about it, but put in the work. I know what to do. I just have to do it.