How Jeremy Stephens overcame suicidal thoughts following loss to Aldo
“I went from living in a shelter, living in a car and lived through so much abuse in my childhood … I was never really able to talk about that and I let it affect me in patterns of my life.”
Jeremy Stephens is tied with Demian Maia and Michael Bisping for the most fights in UFC history (29). He is a toweringly tough man. And as he revealed during a recent appearance on The Ariel Helwani Show, he’s human.
After the loss, it wasn’t even about the fight, it was about these patterns in my life that were setting me back,” said Stephens, as transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. for MMA Mania. “I was literally ready to change my life. If I change my wife, change my house, change my car…I was thinking suicidal thoughts, said Stephens. I get into this program and all I had to go was change my mindset and find some tools, discover a bit about myself and dig a little bit deeper and share these things with people so that they can see where I come from.”
After the fight, I was looking at my kids who were nine and seven, and that was when my parents split up, when I was eight years old. I was ready to go down that pattern. Like I said, I was ready to leave my wife, leave my kids and just leave it all. Change my house, my car, thinking suicidal thoughts.”
As a kid I went through so much, I went from living in a shelter, living in a car and lived through so much abuse in my childhood; going to 14 different elementary schools. I was never really able to talk about that and I let it affect me in patterns of my life.”
Alliance MMA founder Eric Del Fierro connected Stephens with the Las Vegas-based Choice Center, which offeresd adult and teen personal development and leadership courses using experiential learning to elevate Emotional Intelligence (EQ).
I was able to go through the program and find out about life, a lot about myself in this program,” said Stephens. “It really helped me find myself mentality, help me find my confidence. As a kid when you go through stuff like that, I just realized I was failing at my biggest moments. Like, ‘Why, every time, do I fail at my biggest moment?’’
I didn’t really believe in myself. Why should a young kid from Des Moines, Iowa be a world champion? Right as I was about to get my title break, I would just drop the ball. There was no self-confidence. Those things were holding me back. I was able to dig deep, go in get some tools get some coaching from some of the best people in the world that was better than any type of counseling I’ve ever been to. It’s helped me grow with my relationships, with my wife and my kids.
People look at us as fighters, and yes, I’m probably one of the toughest dudes you’ll ever meet, but I’ve also been down in the dumps. I’m a real human being. I’m a person, I have feelings, I have emotions. I have a family myself.
All this growth Going through this program has really put me on another level mentally. It’s helped my training, it’s affected my relationships and opened me up to a whole new world. I get to go in on ESPN on as a main event, balls big, hands swinging and take the opportunity against a young man.
Stephens fights Zabit Magomedsharipov at UFC 235 on Saturday night, in the fight right before the PPV. It has to be so good fans are convinced to pay $60 for five more fights. It will be.