"Before, I just always had a ton of heart and a ton of will, which gets me through these fights, ... but ultimately, as soon as the octagon door would close, I would just hit up instincts. This is one of the first fights I've gameplanned [for]. I've always kind of had an anxiety toward gameplanning, because I tend to just kind of switch into ‘go mode,' and everything that we've planned just goes out the door."
For Cat Zingano, not gameplanning for a mixed martial arts (MMA) fights has worked pretty well, racking up a 9-1 record with her lone loss coming at the hands of Ronda Rousey. To hear Cat tell it to MMA Junkie, all a gameplan is good for is to build anxiety. But going into her bout against Julianna Pena at UFC 200 on July 9, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada (details), she will for the first time try to stick to a gameplan she and her team have been working on. And it's not a bad idea, either, as it will take a good plan of attack to hand Pena her first-ever loss. Whether or not breaking protocol works out for Zingano and Co., remains to be seen.