Styles make fights...what's your style?

"Styles make fights" is a famous saying in combat sports. A couple of questions pop into my head when I hear that phrase:

What is style?
How does a person know what his style is?
How do you work and develop your style?
How can you work your style when you are fighting?
How does a person's personality affect his style of fighting?
How should someone use his personality to develop his style?

Fighting is a physical game. However, fighting is a mental game too. There's a lot of psychology that goes on in the prep before the fight, the fight itself and after.

What is interesting, is many fighters do not take the time to self analyze what is their style of fighting. A lot of fighters don't know what their strengths and weaknesses are when it comes to their fighting skill. Maybe it comes from a need for the fighter to be confident. Maybe it comes from them just doing what they were told to do and not to question what was said to them. I don't know. There could be a lot of reasons.

What I do know is that it is important for the fighter to think about these questions and talk with their trainer and training partners about them. Your trainer can be a great help if he is objective in looking at you as a complete fighter. He also should know a little bit of what goes on in your head and not just how you can throw shots or tap someone out. It's a two way street that you and your trainer have to walk down together. You, as a fighter might not see things too clearly and think you should be doing something that just isn't going to be effective for you. It's your trainer's job to get you back on track and working with you so you can fully develop "your style" and be the best you can be. These questions help get both parties to start the dialogue and help with the fighters future growth.

Good training.