Retired MMA fighter Chad George releases memoir 'A Champion's Mindset'

Former MMA fighter Chad George joins FanSided MMA to share his thoughts on "A Champion's Mindset: The Fighter Within."

At this point, what can't Chad George do? A retired fighter with 25 professional fights all over the world in some of the biggest MMA promotions such as WEC and Bellator MMA, George is constantly looking for new ways to tell his story to both MMA fans and non-watchers alike.

With a background and passion for art, it is no surprise that George has starred in two of the most influential films in MMA history; Occupation: Fighter and Life of a Fighter: The Journey. He's also hosted art exhibitions for his most cherished pieces and has found tremendous success outside of the cage as both a coach and an inspirational speaker.

His newest exploit is called "A Champion's Mindset: The Fighter Within", a book where George takes readers through his troubled childhood, his biggest accomplishments as well as failures, and his ability to overcome these situations that have made him the man he is today by instilling his champion's mindset into anything he does.

FanSided MMA had the chance to chat with George about his motivation behind the book, his writing process, and his plans for the future.

Chad George reveals the journey of 'A Champion's Mindset'

It shouldn't come as a shock that George wrote his first book with the aim to inspire others through his story. After all, his documentaries follow a similar storyline of learning how to overcome dire difficulties in our lives through the belief in oneself, working through our problems by having the faith that any obstacle can be overcome, regardless of your occupation or lifestyle.

"If you want to succeed, you can, being a champion is a choice and that is what a champion’s mindset is. It's like f**k everything else, f**k refusing to quit, just keep moving forward, as long as you never stop, you’re going to find success," he said.

He was quick to admit that he never had the thought of writing a book prior to his newest release.

"I don't know how to write a book, I hate reading, I was terrible in school," he said.

Yet that was exactly what led him to start this long process, a process that would take him three years to complete.

For George, those things that scare us the most are exactly what we should aim to overcome.

"I shouldn't use those excuses as to reasons why I shouldn't write it...that's exactly why I should write a book," he said.

It's clear that George's champion mindset goes into everything he does, whether it is films, art, or his newest book but he did confess that it was not as easy a journey as when he starred in movies. The process was not only filled with the difficulties of "being a perfectionist", having writer's block that would last months, or just getting to write after a long day of work. What really made this process both extremely difficult and rewarding in the end is how much George had to reflect back on his life.

"I started deep-diving, almost all the emotional shit that I buried down and I didn't want to face for many years," he said. "Fighting, fighting has really taught me to have thicker skin, we start learning how to have callouses on the way we think but being genuine and learning to face all those things that we didn’t want to engage with, that’s where growth comes from."

It wasn't just that George had to relive the tough moments and experiences with "lots of ups and downs, lots of twists and turns trying to make this thing happen," but there were also times when self-doubt plagued his progress.

"If you ask my wife, she would tell you that I have been a complete non-coherent idiot... every time I finish something I was like 'it's not right, I got to change something.'"

Thankfully, the close group around him, which encouraged him to write a book in the first place, kept him grounded throughout the emotionally draining journey George went through. This was especially the case when he saw how tedious of a process publishing a book can be, one he called, "a f**king nightmare."

George would end up publishing the book on his own accord, and while he admits that he "wasted a lot of money" on trying to figure it all out, in the end, "what is great about it is that I learned how to do things so it really wasn't wasted... the process is priceless."

With his newly, self-published book out on Amazon (click here to grab a copy), it seems that George is not done yet with his post-career adventures. He's at the very early stages of writing a second book, which he said will touch on how to create a champion's mindset, but is right now enjoying his life to the fullest.

When asked what is next for him, he simply smiled and said "We'll see tomorrow!"