Chapter 56

Chapter 56

Those who know do not talk.
Those who talk do not know.

Stop talking,
meditate in silence,
blunt your sharpness,
release your worries,
harmonize your inner light,
and become one with the dust.
Doing this is the called the dark and mysterious identity.

Those who have achieved the mysterious identity
can not be approached, and they can not be alienated.
They can not be benefited nor harmed.
They can not be made noble nor to suffer disgrace.
This makes them the most noble of all under the heavens.

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When Conor McGregor talked a lot to garner attention before he became UFC Featherweight Champion, people thought he was simply all talk. McGregor instead claimed that he doesn’t simply talk the talk but also walk the walk. His bravado and seemingly unwarranted self-confidence baffled Jose Aldo, the then reigning champ. When Aldo lost the championship bout with McGregor, fighters started to change their thoughts. Before McGregor, they thought that genuinely strong people seldom talked and instead proved their might through performance – like Fedor, for example. McGregor was an erratic example that betrayed that view and quickly became a trendy role model for fighters; they started to mimic Conor to sell themselves better to public.

Although Conor degenerated and lost his fans’ respect after winning two divisional gold belts and then refusing to fight top-tier contenders, it is noteworthy that a talkative person is not always an empty shell. McGregor became one of the few legends in MMA history along with the likes of GSP and BJPenn. He was once laughed at and called a “joker” by the fearsome Muay Thai striker in Jose Aldo. The joker’s skills were real and no joke. Although the Irishman later ruined himself with uncontrolled freakish behaviors, he was up to a point a very serious and well-disciplined athlete unlike his public persona.