After all, mixing it up in a ring with padded gloves and well defined rules is much different than his street match. Even though the boxer might be stronger, faster and have many more moves than the street fighter, I would wager that the brawler would feel more comfortable with his stress level than the boxer. After all, he is fighting in his element, with his rules and equipment. With all our karate training, unless we have actually been there, we have no way to predict how we will react to a new stressful situation. I believe that it is important to duplicate stressful situations as part of the dojo experience.
Tournaments certainly provides an element of uncertainty that connot be found in the dojo.
After a few matches, the student will be able to function more comfortably, without the butterflies. Outside of surviving an actual life or deathe struggle, there is no way to predict how a student will react in a real fight. And certainly, having survived one encounter won't insure your success in the second or third fight. Bottom line is that we must hone our fighting skills through our marital arts training and ultimately, absolutely, believe in ourselves and our ability. Role playing in the dojo and outside the dojo will help us experience the stress that accompanies an attack.