How To Mentally Dominate Your Opponent

Logan, Paul and KSI are set to box in an event that may be the biggest in Internet history. And in this video we are going to explore the mental side of this fight, including who is behaving in a more dominant manner and who appears to think that they are going to win. But before you can understand all the real importance of KSI and Logan smack talk, you need a basic understanding of frames. Now this is something I've discussed in a video on Tyrion Lannister from Game of Thrones and you can check that out in the description. But basically a frame dictates the rules and context of any interaction. So two people may enter an interact interaction with different frames, but usually the frame that is held more strongly will change the other one. For a concrete example of this, just watch the master of frame control, Conor McGregor.

Who do you think would give you the hardest fight out of anybody on stage? Right here, right here. The hardest hitting 145 pound. The real hardest hitting 145er, right here. This guy TKOS people. When I knock people out, they don't move. Is that guy? No. Damn. Well who I am? Who the is that? Oh my God.

Now, frame control isn't just duped out with words though. You can see frames clash simply with body language. In this next clip, for example, Joanna here goads Rose Namajunas offering the frame that she should have a typical dominant style stare down. And of course Joanna wants to win that display of dominance. But Rose does not enter that dominance frame. Rose doesn't flinch. Not when Joanna gets close, not when she takes her glasses off, not even when she touches her face. Now, Joanna doesn't necessarily react to Rose, but the fact that she is doing so much and getting no reaction from her makes her come across as a tryhard. Rose wins just by not reacting. And total side note here, this is reminiscent of the coolest Kobe Bryant frame moment ever.

And he fakes the ball. I mean.

So now that you have a basic idea of frame control, we can begin to analyze who seems to think that they're going to win in this boxing match and who has the stronger frame. Now, at first, Logan seemed to have won in both categories. You can see in this next clip how he surprised KSI in his gym. Notice KSI's lack of eye contact. You can also check out how Logan touches KSI, which in this case can be perceived as a gesture of dominance.

Gotta get in the gym. Came here to close the deal. Came here to close the deal. Let's close the deal. Alright, let's Close the deal though. All right, good. Let's do it. I got the contract right here. Logan Paul vs. KSI, August 25th.

Now this is a great example of Logan Paul making a powerful first impression. In normal life, you want the same impact, but in a much friendlier way. So if you're curious how to establish a strong first impression frame without being a bully, I'm going to link to a video on how you can do that with anyone. Just go ahead, click below, drop your email and you can check that video out after this one. But back to Logan and KSI.

Get in the ring. Start training, start sweating.

From a frame perspective, you can see KSI reacting and responding to most of Logan's insights insults.

Look up at me down there. You're still gonna be looking up at me, boy. Sleeping just like your team is right now. The deal done. What's funny about this? What? You're a YouTuber, bro. Yeah, I can see it. You. You ain't a real thug. You ain't a real.

Meanwhile, Logan has almost no trouble simply ignoring KSI to crack his own jokes. And he seems to just look away however he pleases.

KSI, you want to come to Team Maverick? We're hiring. Hey, get your merch logo, paul.com. got some waiting for your house, by the way. A lot of it's for your. Yeah, yeah, I saw it though. Oh yeah, my man's in the. Logan. Let's do it.

So when it came to setting the frame, Logan seemed to have the advantage. Early on, he maintained this high speed bravado. And at the LA press conference, he criticized KSI for not looking him in the eye during their previous encounter.

Now look at him, y'. All. Look at him, y'. All. Finally you look me in my eyes. Finally you look me in my eyes. Finally.

But something seemed to have happened with Logan. Things took a turn at the London press conference. Now, Logan was clearly affected by the unfriendly cloud which shifted his once brash behavior into a much meeker and milder demeanor. And he also reacted to both KSI and the crowd when speaking, getting cut off in ways that just hadn't happened before.

I'mma be honest. You Logan. You Logan. You Logan.

Now, it's not insane to react to a crowd of unfriendly people with less bravado. But it was in the face to face conversation that you saw that Logan's frame seemed to be compromised. Even one on one, he came out with a solid frame. He was nonreactive, he was throwing insults and he didn't even seem to see KSI as anywhere near an equal athletically.

Are you mad? Are you mad? No, seriously, I'm like, I'm sitting here. I love it. And I'm like, what are you, some kind of crazy person? Are you stupid, bro? Like, I wouldn't get in the ring with me. I'm not. I'm crazy. I'm an animal.

And through this exchange, it was the case that Logan often broke eye contact with KSI to look at the interviewer. Or side to side or even to the floor. None of that would be a big deal by itself. The problem occurred when KSI called Logan out for that lack of eye contact. And you can see Logan laugh a little bit too much at the next silly thing that happened. Then he has this tight shrug, and then he seems to struggle to find a comeback that makes sense.

I think it's interesting that, like, throughout this whole interview, you're literally looking everywhere but my eyes. I just like, to be honest, to be honest with you, I'm kind of done with the talk and the bullshit because let's be honest, like, oh, Logan. Oh, Logan. I'm gonna make that my ringtone.

My read is that Logan felt caught red handed here because he had previously teased KSI for not looking him in the eye. And now here he was across the t KSI doing the exact same thing. So that nervous energy from being shown to be inconsistent boiled over into uncontrollable expressions of fidgeting. This is extremely common. You cannot always control your fidgets or your micro expressions, and they're often the most telling thing for reading body language. Now, you can contrast that with Logan's brother Jake, who had no reaction to the same call out about eye contact. In this case, Jake didn't feel the need to look Deji in the eye, and he didn't buy the idea that looking down was a sign of weakness. So it wasn't hard for Jake to sit there and remain unreactive.

Then the fight itself and the clip will be shown over and over and over and over again. Can you take that kind of pressure? No, no, no, no. Wait. Why'd you look down when you said that? Why'd you look down to answer your question? Okay, all right, I'll go on. You're the only person that laughs at the jokes. Okay.

In fact, if you watch the entirety of the Deji vs. Jake Paul interview, you can see Jake completely dominate the frame control. He speaks slowly. He doesn' act when he's interrupted, and he comes across as calm, composed, and professional. While Deji looks like a tryhard.

You understand why they're saying he's the underdog? Yeah, I mean, he, he's shorter, he weighs less. You say I weigh less, but he's, he's never, he's never trained in his life. How much do you weigh? Sorry? He asked me a question, so I'm just answering it. But he's never trained in his life. He's. He's just been a gamer his whole entire life. He's not, he's not an athlete. But that's not true. His. His trainer is, is a joke. His first trainer dropped.

But back to KSI and Logan. So far, Logan has begun to feel agitated, which isn't the best place to be when you're conducting mental warfare, but it's not terrible. The problem gets bigger though, when KSI calls out this nervous energy that he sees.

Only thing that matters is August 25th. You don't like this, do you? Not really. I just want to kick the shit out of you. I don't know why we're here. I just like. It's hard to just sit here in front of you. You're scared, okay? So you're gonna get in the ring. Fighting on emotion. Tactics, Emotion. Are you gonna get him fighting on emotion? Are you gonna fight on the game plan? I'm calm, cool and collected. I have a strategy. I have a fight plan.

Now, Logan may or may not be scared, but he certainly isn't ice cold, calm and collected, he's at least a little bit bothered. For further confirmation, just a few seconds later, you can see him bobbing his shoulders and tapping his leg quite a bit. Again, not a big deal, except that this is the first time that we've seen this behavior from Logan.

And you just got your first YouTube Red show, bro. Congratulations. It's your big day. That's round one. Have we got Tina in the fight? Huh? That's round one. Have you knocked him out yet?

None of these behaviors, our own are necessarily bad. They're just a release of pent up energy. The issue is that despite the fact that Logan is beginning to feel bothered, he wants to represent himself as being cool, calm and collected. And he seems to believe that the more relaxed person will be the winner. So when he's called out again, he subconsciously slows down his speaking pace and drops his vocal tonality in an attempt to appear more relaxed. Just watch.

I finish you off and end your career. So whether you believe yourself, that's why I can, like, I envy your ignorance. I really do. I Wish I. I wish in a way, I, I sort of have that. But it's, it's, it's really. It's crazy, bro. And I'm happy for you. You're doing a lot of visiting, bro. Fidgeting. I mean, someone's a bit nervous. Are you nervous? I just, it's. Again, it's hard for me to say. Lips are quivering. Don't think so, but. Astute observation there, Sherlock.

It's at this moment that Logan has lost control of the frame of this interaction. He's bought into the frame that calm is better and he's trying to come across that way, even though it isn't how he feels. And while I know you probably won't ever find yourself in a televised press conference before a fight, here is my recommendation. If you do find yourself in that weird situation, first, yes, remaining calm would probably be ideal. It shows the other person that you're unaffected by them and it can potentially make them wonder why you seem to have ice water in your veins. So do what you can to steel your nerves before the interaction. And we have other videos on remaining calm and confident, which you can check out in the description below. But if your composure slips, even more important than appearing calm is being authentic to how you feel. That might not come out pretty. It can even look something like this.

Who gives a. It's the Money Channel. Who the is this?

Now, Nate doesn't necessarily win the trash talking part of that exchange, but he does remain in line with his own feelings and his own frame. And when he walks off the set in frustration, he hasn't caved to Connor's frame, he's remained in his own. So define how you would like to behave before any kind of tense interaction. You want to practice it. We talk about how to do that in the videos I mentioned in the description, and then live it. For people like Conor McGregor, that might mean being extremely provocative. For Rosenamajunas, that means being unperturbed. But what you don't want to do is come in with a game plan to behave in one manner, say, professionally, and then get sucked into your opponent's frame and constantly be reacting to them, which is kind of what happened to Jose Aldo before his fight with Conor McGregor. If your opponent starts to gain the upper hand in the mental game and you start to subconsciously recognize them as dominant, it can have important effects in the actual competition. Now, recently, it seems like Logan has been more reactive than proactive, which is why I have to give the mental warfare to KSI at this point. But the mental game isn't done and an interview isn't a fight. The decisive moment's gonna come when one fighter sets the frame for the fight. Now, for analyzing that, I am not at all an expert, but if I did have to go out on a limb, I would predict as the winner of the KSI and Logan Paul fight. Drumroll please. Logan. Now he's got size, he's got reach. He's been an athlete his whole life. But that's just based on my limited knowledge. So don't take that to the bank. It's not with the same certainty that I've made my other charisma style predictions any I hope that you guys liked this video. If you did, we have other videos related to frame control which I will link to in the description and of course on screen here. Make sure that you subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell because a lot of these videos don't make it to your homepage if you don't do that. So subscribe, hit that notification bell and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.