How Defeat Made Isaque Bahiense's Confidence Sky High For IBJJF Pans
Isaque Bahiense failed to make it to the podium at the IBJJF Europeans in January but bounced back to win the biggest title of his life when he was crowned the Copa Podio Lightweight Grand Prix champion in February.
The huge win came following lessons learned in defeat, and now just days ahead of the IBJJF 2017 Pan Jiu-Jitsu Championship in California Isaque says that the experience has given him greater confidence.
“I think this has given me more confidence, more mental armor, consciously or not,” he says.
He may have only received his black belt in December of 2016, but he already has plenty of experience fighting those at the highest levels. He battled Claudio Calasans and Felipe Pena while still a purple belt, and entered the Copa Podio Heavyweight Grand Prix.
“I already had chance to fight with more experienced athletes, but for sure — you fight your first tournament at black belt, it's something completely different. It's difficult to explain, anything I say doesn't do the feeling justice. This is the dream of every athlete, right? Since we began.”
Maintaining an open mind and learning from his mistakes is the key to success and Bahiense says he’s still got a long way to go.
I didn't get the results I wanted but I learned something from it, like I do with everything in my life. I think I'm at a point where I'm learning and maturing. I'm young, I'm only 21 years old, so I've got a lot to learn.
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