"I'm Gutted" - Why McGregor's Defeat Proves Carl Jung Was Right

A professional MMA fight took place in Yas Island last month between two of the best fighters within the lightweight category: Connor McGregor and Dustin Poirier.

One is Irish, the other is American.

One is loud, the other quiet.

One lost, while the other won.

I don't know much about MMA, but I've spent several years studying and applying the core tenets of the psychology of peak performance. This endeavor eventually drew me to Connor McGregor's figure some years ago (and made me follow his latest match against Poirier).

A bit of context first for the non-initiated before we dive deep: last time these two clashed was in 2014, when Poirier was an established player in the lightweight division, and McGregor just an aspiring champion.

At that time, the MMA world wasn't as popular as it is now, and only the loud & charismatic persona of McGregor made the sport somewhat mainstream over the years. The first Poirier vs McGregor match was an important milestone for the Irish fighter, who only needed 2 mins to demolish Poirier in the octagon after destabilizing him off-court through relentless banter and trash-talking in the weeks prior to the match.

That match inaugurated McGregor's realm, who has shown off his charisma and personality on and off octagons and rings.

On January 24th, 2021, 7 years after their original fight, they both rematched.

On January 24th, 2021, 7 years after his original defeat, Poirier triumphed.

(Even though McGregor, characteristically, said he was "miles ahead" of Poirer in the days before the match, a controversial statement some specialized press agreed upon).

So what happened? Why did the underdog triumph against a rival that had already inflicted him a lot of physical and psychological damage back in 2014?

Positive shadow integration (or lack thereof) is what happened. 

See, as Carl Jung said, every human carries a shadow that comprises all the aspects of their personality that are deemed shameful, unacceptable, and ugly. These can be envy, jealousy, hate, fear, pride, desire for power, or trauma incurred in childhood. Anything that is kept hidden.

Some people refer to the Shadow as a "dark side".

While all people carry a Shadow (part of the human condition), not many know how to integrate it within themselves successfully. For most, the Shadow is the ultimate source of personal weaknesses that foster low performance in life & business.

For others, though, it becomes the core fuel of their achievements. Those who have learned how to leverage their own dark emotions have a massive advantage over those who keep theirs under the rug. All top performers I know do so.

In fact, top performers aren't some robotic beings who have eliminated the sense of guilt or anxiety from their lives, who may seem fearless and immaculate. Top performers feel all those things, even stronger than the average person, but learn to use those emotions to their advantage. Instead of a drag, their Shadow becomes a lever.

Successful shadow integration was a crucial element in McGregor's first ascent to fame, as he was able to channel his pride, envy, and lust for power towards intelligent risk-taking and relentless dedication to the craft. His success story was as powerful as it was unlikely: no Irish "had ever mattered in the fight game", and few people from his Dublin neighborhood "had ever amounted to much". McGregor transmuted the anger of an underfitting childhood into fuel for a powerful mission and created a career of "never been done befores".

But soon enough, things got a turn for the worse. 

After Mayweather defeated him in 2017 (and rightly so), the Irish's Shadow seems to have grown past his ability to control and leverage it. The same pride, envy, and lust for power that once turned him into a double champion has transformed him into a self-promotion machine that lacks the same work ethic, spirit, and track record he once had.

 The unique allure McGregor once had is now gone.

On the other hand, the successful integration of the Shadow that allegedly grew within Poirier after McGregor first demolished him in 2014 is what has kept him in the game all these years, waiting for a chance to revenge.

Yesterday, Poirier got his chance.

 He didn't waste it.

He now is an Interim MMA Champion.  

(Now, while an MMA fan could argue that Poirier won because of his leg kicks, that is only a proximate cause, at best. The root cause of Poirier's triumph was how he leveraged his own shadow to beat the odds. And how McGregor let him do so).

This story proves a crucial point: high performance, no matter the endeavor, is predicated on leveraging all emotions, both good and bad, for your purposes.

The truly great (in sports, business, academia, etc…) use whatever life throws at them for their own purpose. Everything and anything fuels them.

After all, if every fiber of your being isn't aligned to where you want to go, you'll eventually fail. It is just the way it is. 

All high performers know this.

And do something about it.

Let me know if this article was useful.