LAS VEGAS, May 26 – Just as he predicted a day before their UFC 146 main event fight, Junior dos Santos defeated Frank Mir in the second round to retain his UFC heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday night. The triumph, which marked…
LAS VEGAS, May 26 – Just as he predicted a day before their UFC 146 main event fight, Junior dos Santos defeated Frank Mir in the second round to retain his UFC heavyweight title at the MGM Grand Garden Arena Saturday night.
The triumph, which marked the Brazilian’s first defense since dethroning Cain Velasquez last November, featured Mir staying competitive in the opening minutes until dos Santos gradually began turning up the heat and inflicting serious damage. The first big trouble for Mir came in the final 30 seconds of round one, when JDS rocked and wobbled him with a flurry of hard shots. Mir was in imminent danger of being finished but the horn saved him.
Mir’s cornermen urged him “Don’t stand in front of him” during the break, but in the second it became obvious that dos Santos – on the strength of superior hand speed and deft foot movement — could land almost at will.
A right hand by dos Santos put Mir on the deck early in the second; dos Santos motioned for the two-time champ to get up. After some Mir leg kicks, another straight right put Mir down again, clearly disoriented. A hammer punch later, at 3:04 of the frame, the referee called a stop to the bout.
“I’m feeling awesome, man!! Awesome! It’s amazing! It’s not bad for a nice guy, huh?!” said dos Santos (15-1), who made it clear that avenging two losses by his mentor, Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira, to Mir were not his motivation.
“Nogueira is a tremendous fighter, Frank Mir is a really good fighter and that fight is between them, I don’t care about that. Of course I respect my mentor, but I came here to defend my belt and I did it! Man, this guy can take a punch. My hand is hurt.”
Mir, his face beginning to swell up from the damage, was gracious and humble in defeat.
“He’s the champ; he’s fast, he hit me hard and I couldn’t get out of the way,” said Mir (16-6). “I couldn’t do nothing about them. He’s just a very dangerous man. I didn’t want a boxing match with him; he just forced me into it. I couldn’t get him down.”
LAS VEGAS, May 26 – We’ve seen some bad cuts and blood-splattered Octagons over the years, but few spillages come close to the volumes that poured from Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the UFC 146 co-main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday…
LAS VEGAS, May 26 – We’ve seen some bad cuts and blood-splattered Octagons over the years, but few spillages come close to the volumes that poured from Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the UFC 146 co-main event at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on Saturday night, courtesy of a wicked Cain Velasquez elbow and then a relentless avalanche of ground and pound.
Silva, best known for beating the legendary Fedor Emelianenko, and making his UFC debut, appeared overmatched from the opening bell against the former UFC heavyweight kingpin. To make matters worse, “Bigfoot” had to cope with not only with Velasquez’s fury, but also a face that bled profusely.
In the end, at 3:36 of round one, Silva turned over and began to wilt, prompting referee Josh Rosenthal to halt the action and declare Velasquez the winner via TKO.
“Just to get over the past, just to get another step in the right direction, it’s great. It’s definitely a step in the right direction,” said Velasquez, getting his first win since losing his title to Junior dos Santos last year. “Dan Cormier, my teammate, he fought Bigfoot Silva and he told me some things that helped me tonight.”
How can someone that big be so darn quick with his punches?
That is what Roy Nelson had me thinking after a thunderous, out-of-nowhere right hand that felled Dave Herman and drew an eruption of “ooohs” and aaahs” from a collectively mesmerized crowd at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Just 51 seconds in, Roy Nelson’s work for the night was over. The Las Vegan jumped atop the Octagon, gleamed out into the stands and performed his patented belly rub.
“I want to thank ‘Pee Wee’ for taking the fight with me, since everybody else dropped out and didn’t want to fight me,” said Nelson, who improved to 18-7.
In a battle of unbeatens, Stipe Miocic’s gas tank and grappling game eventually overwhelmed Shane Del Rosario en route to a second-round TKO. Conditioning clearly played a role in Del Rosario’s downfall, as the Californian impressed in the first round with an array of kicks and an uppercut that appeared to stun Miocic.
Miocic (9-0) held his own in the standup, but exploited his winded adversary in the second stanza, easily taking Del Rosario (11-1) down and dropping heavy elbows. Del Rosario’s face became a bloody mess and his defense was M.I.A., prompting referee Yves Lavigne to halt the action at 3:14.
You rarely see guard-pulling in MMA, let alone in the heavyweight ranks. But when you’re 6’11 1/2”, it’s a rather easy maneuver to pull off. So when Stefan Struve clinched with hard-hitting Lavar Johnson early in their tussle, Struve’s successful guard pull may have caught the Californian by surprise. Because moments later, just 65 seconds in, Johnson was tapping to an armbar.
“I felt like I could get the armbar …he’s a heavy hitter so why give him any chance at all to win the fight?” said Struve (28-5), who won his third straight.
Johnson, coming off a stoppage of Pat Barry, fell to 17-6.
Ever since being the architect of a 45-pound weight cut for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson two years ago, over a mere eight weeks, Mike Dolce’s star has skyrocketed among UFC fighters. Quite simply, the founder of The Dolce Diet has no equal in MMA wh…
Ever since being the architect of a 45-pound weight cut for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson two years ago, over a mere eight weeks, Mike Dolce’s star has skyrocketed among UFC fighters. Quite simply, the founder of The Dolce Diet has no equal in MMA when it comes to helping fighters shed significant poundage without feeling absolutely drained once they step into the Octagon.
The 36-year-old New Jersey native has directed the dietary and nutritional needs of some of the biggest names in the sport – clients such as Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort, Gray Maynard, Michael Bisping and Jake Ellenberger, to name a few – and you will be hard-pressed to find another man more passionate about nutrition in the fight game than Mr. Dolce. A former pro fighter himself, and standout wrestler and powerlifter in high school, most of Dolce’s life has revolved around the science of maximizing human performance. It is more than a job for the author of the book “Living Lean;” it is an obsession he has cultivated since the age of 8 or 9, which is why there is likely no better brain to pick on the subject than this undisputed master of the weight cut. Curreri: What are some of the core ‘Superfoods’ for fighters?
Dolce: Everybody has their own list. I use the term “earth-grown nutrients.” Now, I’m not talking about cocaine or things like that, obviously. We’re talking about blueberries, avocados, chia seeds, and a tremendous amount of green vegetables. I also believe in moderation and rotation of Superfoods. So don’t always eat baby spinach when you can have kale. Don’t always eat asparagus when you can have broccoli on the side. I like to rotate them. So it’s really more Supergroups, not just Superfoods. But blueberries, kale, spinach, broccoli, avocado, apples and red peppers are high on the list.
Curreri: What about satisfying the protein needs of your athletes?
Dolce: As far as proteins go, I sway back and forth and embrace a lot of the Vegan principles. It’s just the application of it is especially different in MMA. From a cultural standpoint, and from the athlete’s perspective, a lot of times guys think that if they don’t eat meat they will be weaker. So then a placebo effect kicks in and they don’t perform as well. So we have to pay attention to that. It’s very important.
Curreri: Different fighters have different views on sugar. Most agree that added or refined sugars are bad, but there are varying views on the sugar derived from fruits. Where are you on that? Is there a problem if someone is consuming sugar from fruit?
Dolce: Most people stand on the side of, ‘Sugar is in fruit, sugar is bad, equals fruit is bad.’ So they won’t have fruit – they will have brown rice, chicken breast, some sort of steamed vegetables, that sort of thing. But when you pull the fruit out of your diet you’re also pulling out many antioxidants and many, many vital nutrients that cannot be replicated from any other product on the planet. So when you eliminate fruit then you eliminate a lot of your own vitality. This is why I identify myself as a longevity advocate, not a sports-performance advocate. So being a longevity advocate, I love and embrace fruit. And my athletes eat a tremendous amount of fruit and they also eat a much higher amount of carbohydrate than most other weight-class oriented athletes. And people say, ‘Well that will make them fat or they won’t perform as well.’ And I say, ‘Respectfully, you’re wrong. Because Vitor Belfort is 5 percent body fat and he just beat the s— out of a high-level athlete last night. Chael Sonnen is 6 percent body fat and he cut 42 pounds and had a three round war with Michael Bisping …
Glycogen is the primary fuel source for the brain and the muscles, so we need sugar. When you pull out sugar, everything starts to shut off. So I make sure my athletes are fed all the way up to the time that they step on the scale. We don’t neglect nutrients or food groups just for the sake of making weight. My philosophy is to give the body everything it needs and the body will give it back to you. Curreri: So your clients are eating relatively well leading up to weigh-in?
Dolce: Food is fuel … so I recommend that you eat every two to four hours that you’re awake, no matter what is going on, to keep your insulin stable and regulate your metabolism. And we cater that around your goal and provide the right amount of nutrients and have the metabolism adapt accordingly.
So my guys typically, week of the fight, they eat four times on the Thursday before weigh-in. They eat constantly, everyday. So some of the Brazilians, guys like Vitor Belfort and Thiago Alves, love to tweet pictures of their food like, ‘I can’t believe it’s fight week and I’m eating pancakes today!’
A guy might be 22 pounds over fight week but we’re still feeding them dinner, feeding the metabolism and making it faster. We make the fighter feel strong and feel fresh so they have the energy to get out there and cut weight. I have them cut weight by feeding them instead of starving and suffering.
The afternoon interview is pleasantly interrupted by a phone call. It’s coaches for Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, a giant of a man who will fight former UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez this Saturday night. Dolce takes the call and travels to another room at the MGM Grand hotel with meals for his massive client. Dolce drops off a hot, homemade meal to Bigfoot consisting of lentils, beans, quinoa, onions, sweet potato and crushed tomatoes.
Curreri: What did Bigfoot start his camp at?
Dolce: Five weeks before this fight, when I went to Florida to work with him in his camp, he was 289 pounds. Within 10 days he was down to 271, and I probably doubled his calories.
Curreri: Give me an idea of what he was eating to accomplish that?
Dolce: He ate a lot of everything. He likes soups – that speaks to his culture, he’s Brazilian … he likes that feeling of warm, homemade food. So I made a lot of soups surrounding that using lentils, beans, seeds and fresh chopped vegetables and quinoa, things like that. A guy like Thiago Alves, on the other hand, is a steak and meat and potatoes eater.
Curreri: So you try to individualize and cater the diet to whatever a fighter’s body is used to, not wanting to totally shock their body with a sudden and dramatic overhaul?
Dolce: That’s exactly right. I make little suggestions initially and I slowly transition them to a higher level (of diet and nutrition). If you don’t do it gradually then you have problems with detoxification and them having a lack of faith in the system. They might think, ‘My God, I started eating clean and I feel like s—‘!’ It’s psychology also. These guys can become basket cases during fight week. You know, they’re two or three days away from getting punched in the face in front of millions of people and their career and their mortgages are on the line, and they’re cutting 20 and 30 pounds on top of that.
Curreri: Yours is no 9 to 5 job. You get phone calls and texts at all hours of the day and night from fighter-clients. What are some common questions and concerns that are on their minds when they reach out to you?
Dolce: They ask me, Can I have a cup of coffee? Can I get tea? Can I add milk or honey to that? Can I drink a soda? Can I get a piece of pizza? Can I get eggs at the airport?
Or, I’m standing in the supermarket, I don’t know what brown rice to get … it’s amazing. It might seem like an annoyance to other people, but for the fighter it’s the biggest decision of his life at that particular moment. So I encourage them to ask those questions and I want to coach them through that.
Curreri: Eating organic is more expensive. A lot of people assume that eating healthy means more expensive. Should a fighter that hires you expect to see his food and grocery bills increase significantly?
Dolce: No. The grocery bill drops! This is what blows people’s minds. People that have bought my books … I have like 2,000 and some tweets, direct testimonials from people and a good portion of those are people talking about their grocery bill going down. I try to recommend food groups and food pairings that are extremely nutrient dense and low-calorie. So you get more nutrients and less calories while sustaining a much higher level of vitality. So you don’t need to eat as much to have the same amount of energy and vital nutrients.
Another thing: When you go to the store and buy, say, an organic red pepper for between $1.50 and $3.00 … you’re going to slice that red pepper into quarters most likely so that’s spread out of over four meals. And you’re going to cut a chicken breast in half for two meals. Then you’ll have some vital greens, kale or spinach. You’ll have 20 cents worth of chia seeds thrown on there. You’re going to have another 40 cents for a fruit or vegetable, so the meals actually break down to be inexpensive. In my house (of three) we only spend about $150 a week on groceries and we mostly eat organic products. We only buy what we’re going to make and we only make what we’re going to eat.
Most people make too much and throw out way too much and that runs their bill up. That’s why my meal plans for my athletes are very structured. Now a pack of berries, instead of lasting a day or two, lasts a lot longer.
I have worked for Johny (Hendricks) his past two fights: The Koscheck fight and the Jon Fitch fight. Before me stepping on board, Johny was nicknamed, “The Baconator.” Evidently there is a sandwich out there at one of the fast food joints called The Baconator that Johny absolutely loved and would eat in copious amounts. But now we’ve been able to get Johny to reform a little bit and turn the corner.
Curreri: You grew up and played a lot of sports, right?
Dolce: My upbringing was all sports-related. My father owned and trained thoroughbred racehorses. My mother had been on a college scholarship for basketball and became a college basketball coach. So me and my siblings played recreational sports throughout our childhoods: baseball, basketball, soccer, wrestling. I started wrestling and playing lacrosse, but then I just focused primarily on powerlifting when I was 13 years old and started wrestling in high school.
Curreri: Tell me about your first experiences with weight-cutting. How old were you?
Dolce: Honestly, it was being around jockeys when I was younger; they were cutting weight. And the horses were cutting weight, too, and using diuretics! So I remember as a boy seeing jockeys go in and out of the sauna cutting weight just like MMA athletes do – which is crazy. I remember seeing the look on the jockeys’ faces, they were so gaunt. And they’re such little guys anyway. If they weigh 140 they’re fat.
As a freshman in high school I made the varsity team. I had never wrestled before so my coaches would bounce me around weight classes. I weighed about 125 pounds when I started the season but I was growing and training a lot. So I started bouncing from 125 to 145 pounds, so I had to lose weight a lot. I came back my sophomore year weighing 174 pounds and wrestled at 152. So that was a 22-pound weight cut.
Even as a freshman I was a team captain and I had a good grasp on weight-cutting. I was already strength training, already learning about nutrition, already constantly immersed in reading bodybuilding magazines … I knew I could be stronger than everybody else, be in better shape than everybody else and work harder than everybody else. My coaches would have us do situps and things like that and I would be correcting other people’s form … I was like this little know-it-all. But I actually did know more than they did at this stuff and I would interject and stuff.
I was studying Dorian Yates, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding”, that was like a bible to me. Every time I would walk a mile and a half to 7-Eleven I would get the muscle magazines: Flex, Muscle & Fitness, Men’s Health. I would pick up all these kernels of information and apply them.
Curreri: Your forte is nutrition, diet and weight-cutting. You could have focused on strength and conditioning … where there is a lot more competition. You chose diet and I’m at a loss to name and identify whoever is Number 2 or 3 behind you. It’s a biiigggg gap. I can’t think of another name. You’ve got that niche on lock …
Dolce: I started out as a strength coach. I saw myself as a strength coach. I was hired by Team Quest in Portland, Oregon – working with Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, Nate Quarry, Chael Sonnen and those A-class guys – as a strength coach. And it wasn’t until I started fighting (first as a MMA amateur and then professionally) and making 30-40-pound weight cuts in a couple of weeks as opposed to guys that complained about making 16-20 pound weight cuts in two months (that guys perked up and took notice). I was able to cut the weight, rehydrate afterwards and perform at a high level without ill effects from the weight cut. That blew everybody’s mind. And that is when the allure of The Dolce Diet began. Before that I was a strength coach and just assumed, ‘Well, everybody knows nutrition …it’s so simple, such common sense, what to eat.’ Well it turned out that nobody was really doing that. Curreri: How did you happen upon this niche?
Dolce: I think the legend started when Rampage (Jackson) fought Rashad Evans (at UFC 114, in May 2010). Rampage started that training camp at 251 pounds, so seven weeks and six days before the fight he was 44 pounds over (the 206-pound limit for light heavyweights). And that was a huge story because he was so out of shape after taking a 14-month layoff and doing the A-Team movie. So Rampage stepped on the scale and looked amazing after losing 45 pounds, and went on record saying it was the easiest weight cut he had ever had … and then to go out there and perform against Rashad and win the third round, having more power and more mental acuity and being the better conditioned athlete in my mind … all of the sudden my phone started ringing a lot more. Because Rampage is notorious for not liking to train and eating garbage food and everybody saw that conversion, you know, ‘What the hell happened?’
Prior to that I had been working with a smaller group of Team Quest guys, it just wasn’t so public. Now people think I’m a nutritionist, or a dietician, but I’m not. What’s my label? I don’t have one. I’m just a coach who can help these guys (make weight and feel great). I’ve been involved in thousands of weight cuts and you’d better believe that I spend my mornings spending hours and lunch breaks reading scientific journals, reviews and any pertinent data I can get my hands on for education. I have multiple certifications … Then I run and test along with other high-level coaches and elite athletes from around the world that I’m blessed to work with on a daily basis. So rather than sitting in a classroom learning and cramming for exams, I’m actually living in hotels with UFC fighters and preparing them for the stage and competition.
Curreri: How much of the food that your fighter clients eat should be organic?
Dolce: As a goal, 100 percent of what they eat should be organic. 100 percent. I think everybody on the planet should be able to walk out of their backyard, and pull their meal out of their plot of land and bring it in their house and eat it. That way it’s live and fresh. The farther you get away from that, the nutrient quality is diminished. So we try to keep the food source as close to home as possible. So I don’t want my food to come from a town over if I can get it from my neighbor, and I don’t want to get it from my neighbor if I can get it from my own backyard. So organic gives you the highest nutrients. Curreri: Who are the biggest weight cutters among your clientele?
Dolce: The biggest weight cutters come to me now. And that’s not a statement of pride – it’s just a fact. Rampage, who literally would walk between 250 and 260 up to eight weeks before a fight … now, I haven’t worked with him for his last two fights (one of which saw Rampage overweight for his bout against Ryan Bader, which Rampage attributed to a knee injury suffered in training camp). I worked with Chael Sonnen, who was 233 pounds, eight weeks before his fight with Michael Bisping. Chael fights at 185 pounds so that’s roughly 48 pounds; that’s huge man.
Thiago Alves and Johny Hendricks both brought me in and they are guys that both weigh upwards of 205 and 210 pounds, so that’s a 35- or 40-pound weight cut. I got Jake Ellenberger, who’s a 200-pound man. Mark Bocek, who gets up to 190 or so and fights at ’55. Keith Jardine, who made 185 for the first time since he was 17 years old with me, leading up to his Strikeforce middleweight title fight against Luke Rockhold. Now, Keith lost that fight, unfortunately, but he made the weight and felt great.
But out of all the guys that I work with, Duane Ludwig (who fights Saturday night against Dan Hardy at UFC 146) is the best weight cutter that I’ve ever worked with. Duane is a 195-pound man and gets up to 200 pounds and is decently lean at that weight. Around Christmas of 2009 Duane had been fighting in smaller shows and he got a call from Joe Silva and an offer to fight January second against Jim Miller, on 13 days’ notice. Duane calls me up, tells me the deal. I’m like, ‘Sweet, what do you weigh?’
He was 198 pounds and had to make 156. That’s a 43-pound weight loss in 13 days. We did it. Wow! Duane looked great, he just got caught in an armbar by Jim. Now five fights later Duane is back at welterweight. I’ve worked with Duane for quite a while now and he used to cut more weight than anybody else and he handles it like a professional, he doesn’t handle it emotionally. People don’t really see that because he looks skinny but he’s a big guy. He knows what he has to do and he gets it done very clinically. Other guys moan and complain and things like that, but it’s the choice that you make.
Curreri: When a fighter calls you, have you ever had to tell a guy, ‘I can’t help you make the weight?’
Dolce: No. I don’t guarantee weight loss. What I do is say, ‘I will make you as healthy as possible. You’re the boss.’ But whatever the athlete wants done, we come together as a team and try to get it done. It’s my job to keep them healthy and make sure they train with the right intensity, at the proper volumes, and we go through periodization. That’s something a lot of people don’t see with The Dolce Diet – it’s a periodized peaking plan. So I want to know what your morning heart rate was, the weight you woke up at … I literally talk to a fighter’s wife, I talk to his brother, I talk to his best friend. ‘Is he joking? Is he watching his normal TV shows? Is he falling asleep at night? What kind of radio is he listening to?’
I also stay and train with a lot of guys that bring me in … so if a guy was stuck in traffic for two hours, then that’s critical data for me that needs to be addressed and understood. And we act according to that. So what if he strains his knee in practice? What if he has an argument with his girl? Then everything absolutely changes. So I try to keep my guys in the moment and keep them dialed in. That’s the way my guys are able to make weight so easily and look amazing on the scales and backstage and rehydrate so they can have a career-defining performance on Saturday night.
You know him as The Voice of the Octagon. The impeccably groomed showman with the volcanic vocal chords who revs up the crowd – and UFC fighters – right before the fists start flying. But what you may not know is that Mr. Bruce Buffer – one half …
You know him as The Voice of the Octagon. The impeccably groomed showman with the volcanic vocal chords who revs up the crowd – and UFC fighters – right before the fists start flying. But what you may not know is that Mr. Bruce Buffer – one half of the First Family of Fight Announcing (along with brother, Michael) – is a lifelong martial artist and professional poker standout who is meticulous in his eating habits. 54 years young, Buffer shares his philosophy on eating well and what he does in the hours leading up to a UFC event to ensure optimal performance and mega-watts on the mic.
Curreri: So, do you believe diet plays a role in you being on top of your announcing game in the Octagon? Buffer: Yeah, I believe that on a daily basis so I practice that every day. I treat my body like a machine. Just like a fine car, we have to put oil in that car or else it breaks down. The same principle applies to the human body. I look at my body as a machine. Not just a temple – but a machine. So I don’t lag when it comes to my body. I’ve got to be prepared for anything, inside of the Octagon or in my personal life.
Curreri: Tell fans about how you prepare your voice for optimum performance in the hours before a UFC show? Buffer: I enjoy a good steam at the spa at the hotel because steam is great for the vocal chords. I keep honey at the show, which lubricates my vocal chords. Or Hall’s Mentho-lyptus (lozenges) in case I get a sore throat. I’ve done shows with a 104 temperature, I’ve done shows with just getting off laryngitis, I’ve done shows with severe colds. The bottom line is, I always tell myself ‘I’m not fighting … I can get through this. The show must go on.’ So I can always deliver, no matter how I might feel during the show. My adrenaline kicks in and I can always do a show.
Also, I don’t go out and go screaming and clubbing the night before a show. I want to be fresh before the show. I’m always ready for a show. If I got a (surprise) call from Dana White tonight and he said, ‘Be ready for a show tonight,’ I would be ready. To me, the whole thing behind the phrase, ‘It’s Time!’ … I want to be ready to move and ready to roll every day of my life. That’s just the way I live my life.
Curreri: Talk about your evolution as a martial artist. Buffer: My dad started teaching me boxing when I was five years old. I started martial arts when I was 12 – I started in judo. Then I earned a black belt in Tang Soo Do. I was always interested in Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do theory, which we all know today to be mixed martial arts. Then I got into kickboxing and Muay Thai. So I’ve been doing Muay Thai my whole life. I never lifted weights until I was about 27 years old. My main source of exercise until then had been a couple of hundred push-ups per day. The only weights I did were arm curls.
My theory on staying healthy is 20 percent exercise, 80 percent nutrition. It’s all in how you eat. I started thinking like that in my mid-20s. I don’t care what you do, or how much you exercise, if you don’t watch how you nourish your body, how you nourish your temple, then all of that is for naught.
Curreri: A day in the dietary life of Bruce Buffer … Buffer: When I’m home, because I travel a lot on weekends for shows, I will wake about 8:30 (a.m.) and the first thing I will do is have a vegetarian egg white omelet, oatmeal, a cup of coffee and that pretty much gets me going for the day. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One of the biggest problems people have is they don’t eat breakfast, and that’s why those crashes happen in the afternoon. So they rely on energy drinks to get them through the rest of the day. The only time I ever drink an energy drink is when I’m at a long poker tournament, when I need a pick-me-up. Otherwise I stay away from energy drinks. Curreri: How many meals do you eat per day? Buffer: I try to eat every three or four hours, so about five meals a day. They are not all big meals; portion control is key. In America we are big overeaters and there is a lot of waste in this country. So after I eat breakfast I will work out for two hours. My workouts consist of circuit training, cardio workouts and about a half hour of stretching.
When I get back I usually make a nice shake. I make my shakes with protein powder, water, I put a lot of blueberries, which are great for the protein. I also put in vegetables and something for digestion. I have little bars that I buy that are low in sugar, have the perfect amount of protein and a low amount of carbohydrates. Because all of my carbohydrates I consume before 6 o’clock (p.m.). Curreri: What is your theory on no carbs after 6 p.m.? Buffer: I eat them early because they help me get a good burst in the morning and I know I’m going to be burning them off. If you eat carbs past 6 or 7 (p.m.) and you are not exercising, then if you eat carbohydrates then your body naturally stores them as fat. So if you want to lose body fat, along with portion control you also need carbohydrate control, too. So most of my carbohydrates are breakfast and lunch.
Curreri: You’re on the road a lot and sometimes you can’t always eat to your own perfection or highest standards. What do you eat when you have to settle for less-than-ideal meals? Buffer: Well, most every country has a wide variety of food. If it’s kind of hard to eat like I want to eat at hotels … When I travel I take a supply of (supplement) bars with me on the road as a meal replacement. So if I can’t find what I want to eat then I can basically live off those bars. I’ll take at least two bars with me (for every day on the road). So if I’m leaving for a four-day trip, like in Brazil or the U.K., I’ll bring at least 8 to bars with me.
If I have to order something from the hotel, the safest thing for me to order is the club sandwich. I like that they put eggs on them. But I change the bread to wheat bread and tell them that instead of three pieces to give me two pieces. And most places I go to I can always have a breakfast omelet. And breakfast is my favorite meal. I could literally eat breakfast every meal of the day.
Curreri: Does your eating ritual change on the day of a UFC event? Buffer: Absolutely. Usually on the day of a UFC, I like to sleep in that day so I’ll have extra energy coming out. Sometimes I’ll fly in (to the host city) the morning of the event or the night before. I make sure that I have a good meal before I leave for the arena. Typically I might have chicken and vegetables, or a turkey sandwich and some fruit.
I might also eat from the media buffet right beforehand for extra carbohydrates. Because even though I am not fighting or running around like crazy, for a UFC I’m at the event for six to eight hours at a time and I like to have energy when I work. So I carb up before a show.
Curreri: Speaking of ‘your life,’ you are working on an autobiography. When will it be available? Buffer: Yeah, Random House publishing is working on it right now. The working title, of course, is “It’s Time.” And I hope that’s the finished title. It is due to be released approximately April 2013.
Curreri: Give fans a perspective or benchmark of some of your physical feats, at 54, that might impress some folks. Buffer: I can easily bang out 75 pushups, no problem. My cardio level is very high. It’s just that your body can’t take the punishment it used to take. Maybe after a long surf session I’m a little sorer than I used to be, but still, I can handle it. You know, I just had my ACL replaced and I stayed in shape the whole time. I’m nine months into (healing) and now I’m going to start getting in the water and start surfing the way I like to surf.
Curreri: Will we ever see you do the ‘360’ again inside the Octagon on the new knee? Buffer: The 360 is retired. Oh, but here’s another thing: I did the 360 when I was 52 years old. I’d like to see someone else get out there and do one of those at 52 years old.
Curreri: Now, you didn’t tear your ACL doing the 360 in the Octagon, right? Buffer: No. This will all be detailed in my book, by the way. I blew my ACL at UFC 129, but the full details will be in my book.
Curreri: What are the absolute DON’TS in the Bruce Buffer diet? Buffer: A real standard rule is to avoid eating anything white: white bread, white pasta, white rice. Usually they are full of starch and carbohydrates that are not good for you. Another key thing is no late-night eating and no carbs after 7 (p.m.) if you can help. That’s because the carbs sit in your body and your body will naturally turn them into fat. Another thing is to eat every three to four hours so that you can speed up your metabolism. Eating big meals is not the way to sustain your body. You want to feed your body with sustained energy throughout the day.
FAIRFAX, VA, May 15 – The Tuesday fight between lightweights Cody McKenzie and Marcus LeVesseur at the Patriot Center lasted three minutes and five seconds. McKenzie maybe won 15 seconds of the action. But it was the 15 seconds that mattered, as The …
FAIRFAX, VA, May 15 – The Tuesday fight between lightweights Cody McKenzie and Marcus LeVesseur at the Patriot Center lasted three minutes and five seconds. McKenzie maybe won 15 seconds of the action. But it was the 15 seconds that mattered, as The Ultimate Fighter vet survived some heavy leather early before cinching in his signature “McKenzietine” choke that provoked the Levesseur tap out in the first round.
Levesseur (21-6) came out winging – but missing – early, yet he started to crack McKenzie from the top position after scoring a takedown. McKenzie (13-2) remained poised, sucked the former college wrestling standout into his butterfly guard, and summoned the move that everybody in the arena knew he wanted, as he got his finish and broke a two fight losing skid.
For two rounds, this was a really fun-to-watch, free-swinging middleweight affair. Both Brad Tavares and Dongi Yang were aggressive, both swinging with malicious intent. It seemed that Tavares got the better of the banging in round one, landing some big right hands and scoring downstairs with sizzling leg kicks. Yang responded with some powerful shots of his own, and both guys traded inadvertent eye pokes.
In the second, Yang seemed the clear-cut aggressor as Tavares pawed at his left eye (the one that had been poked) numerous times. More heavy leather flew, but Yang’s stalking seemed to favor him.
In round three, Yang inexplicably seemed to lose his sense of urgency after Tavares took him down several times. Yang did not seem fatigued, but instead fought conservatively like someone who presumed they were up two rounds to none. Tavares, meanwhile, became a little more methodical and diverse, mixing up his kicks and punches to clearly carry the round and take the decision via three scores of 29-28.
In triumph, Tavares improved to 7-2; Yang fell to 10-3.
After compiling a .500 record at welterweight in the UFC, Canadian T.J. Grant’s reinvention at 155 pounds continued with a unanimous decision nod (30-27 three times) over Carlo Prater.
Grant’s second straight win came courtesy of besting Prater anywhere the fight went. On their feet, Grant outstruck his foe 65 to 23. Takedowns: Grant 4, Prater 0. And though Prater (30-11-1) is a BJJ black belt, Grant (18-5) schooled him on the mat by winning scrambles, passing guard, and roughing him up with ground and pound in rounds two and three. Grant particularly heated up late in the third, slamming Prater hard to the canvas, mounting him, threatening with a rear naked choke and then a credible armbar as the final horn sounded.
“I’ve been fighting the best in the world and let’s take the next step. I want to be on the card in Canada (Calgary in July, headlined by UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo vs. No. 1 challenger Erik Koch) and maybe Joe Silva can do something for me, I don’t know…” Watch Grant’s post-fight interview
A left kick to the head spelled trouble for Kamal Shalorus early in the fight, as dos Anjos swarmed his fallen and foggied foe with punches. The ref came oh-so-close to stopping the lightweight contest, but intervened soon after when dos Anjos forced Shalorus to tap with a rear naked choke at just 1 minute 40 seconds of the opening stanza.
Jeff Curran came up short against Johnny Eduardo in bantamweight action. Who knows if the MMA pioneer, despite 35 pro wins, will ever notch his first UFC win. But I do know this: The “Big Frog” is a fighter’s fighter. He embodies that, “anyone, anytime, anyplace” mentality and has fought so many of the sport’s biggest names over the past 14 years.
Curran is one of those gritty, never-say-die fighters who can be competitive with just about any fighter. But so often, by close margins, he finds himself on the short end of the judges’ scorecards. The seasoned bantamweight turned in another gritty and, at times, inspiring performance against Eduardo in Virginia, but again had to settle for defeat by 29-28 scores across the board.
The first two rounds were competitive, with the lanky Brazilian cautious with his hands but repeatedly scoring with hard kicks to Curran’s lead leg. Curran landed the occasional overhand right, scored with his lead jab and kicks and a nice elbow off a punch. But Curran found it hard-pressed to land consistently against such a defensive-minded and athletic opponent (to the point where Curran at times dropped his hands low, hoping to entice Eduardo into more aggression and counterpunching or takedown opportunities). Eduardo did not oblige him.
The third round told a completely different story. Curran (35-15-1) came on strong. He landed a beautiful 1-2 early on, snapping Eduardo’s head back and prompting the Brazilian to immediately appeal to the referee and claim an eye poke. Curran tagged him with another crisp shot and soon enough a trickle of blood began streaming around Eduardo’s left eye. With ever greater frequency, Curran began to land, bringing loads of pressure, enough to dent Eduardo’s armor but not destroy it.
There is no doubting Alex Soto’s toughness: He’s a U.S. Army vet, served a tour in Afghanistan and, oh by the way, the 28-year-old moonlights as a professional fighter.
And Soto needed every bit of that toughness to weather a non-stop storm from Francisco Rivera, who rocked Soto in all three rounds of the night’s opening bout. If you prefer damage inflicted to strikes landed (as I generally do), then you likely would have awarded round one to Rivera, who dropped Soto with a hard right hand in the opening frame and walloped the U.S. Army veteran numerous times with his best punch. Rivera seemed perfectly content to stalk Soto and walk through his arsenal, even though it was the dancing Soto who landed more frequently with punches and kicks and threw in a takedown for good measure.
In the second round, with Soto rightfully fixated on avoiding the right hand, Rivera surprised him with head kicks, one of which put Soto on the deck again. After eating a hard right hand and kick (and bleeding from his mouth), Soto defiantly blew a kiss to Rivera. Soto’s survival skills were impressive, and he continued to score throughout the fight, but his blows didn’t pack nearly as much pop as his adversary (Rivera, at one point, after Soto landed a combination, shook his head to say, essentially, ‘no effect.’)
Rivera continued to pour it on in the third, landing a barrage of punches that made Soto do the so-called “chicken dance,” but the knockout ace could not finish the fight, settling instead for a unanimous decision victory via three scores of 30-27. Hear what “Cisco” had to say after his win
FAIRFAX, VA, May 15 – Leading up to their UFC on FUEL TV fight at the Patriot Center, Jeremy Stephens vowed to “break” Donald Cerrone, perceiving that Nate Diaz had done the same last December. But the “old” Cerrone emerged Tuesday night, the…
But the “old” Cerrone emerged Tuesday night, the one who had annihilated six straight foes before Diaz. And that was bad news for Stephens, who received probably the worst beating of his seven-year career in losing a shutout 30-27 decision in the lightweight scrap.
Stephens went the distance, but walked away with a sizable welt under a bloody left eye, and a left leg (his lead leg) that is sure to be plenty sore Wednesday morning following the dozens of Cerrone kicks that assaulted it.
At times mocking and toying with Stephens, Cerrone seemed to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and he walked away relatively unscathed. He punished Stephens (20-8) with body kicks, knees and combinations to the head. And made somehow made it look easy.
“Coming off my last loss, it feels good,” said Cerrone (18-4, 1 NC). “He came and brought it, that’s what I thought he would do.”
As for his next move, Cerrone, a native Coloradan, is eyeing UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar (scheduled for August in Denver.) Said Cerrone: “I really want to get on that Denver card, man.”
Amir Sadollah eked out a split decision win over Jorge Lopez in a slow-moving fight that left fans clamoring for the main event. The 23-year-old Lopez impressed early, clearly controlling the first round with a takedown, superior aggression and scoring with a bevy of punches and kicks.
Lopez could have rightfully been awarded the second round as well, notching two more takedowns and controlling on top. Yet Sadollah (7-3) may have swayed judges by landing the better blows standing – particularly kicks to the ribs, stomach and shoulder that certainly didn’t produce devastation, but perhaps persuasion.
If you prefer Octagon control, then perhaps a tiring Lopez deserved the third because of a pair of takedowns. There wasn’t much effective striking, but what little there was saw Lopez (11-3) looking reticent and Sadollah looking busier.
Two judges deemed it 29-28 for Sadollah; the other gave the nod to Lopez by 29-28.
Perhaps the best summary of Jeff Hougland’s toughness comes from the mouth of Yves Jabouin.
After punishing Hougland over three-rounds of total, one-sided domination, Jabouin expressed admiration for a fighter who never quit despite absorbing furious assaults that had the referee on high alert for intervention on several occasions.
“Once that back kick sinks in, not a lot of guys can withstand it,” said Jabouin, who dropped Hougland with a vicious spinning kick in the first round. “He took it like a man. My hat’s off to him.”
The Montreal-based bantamweight tormented Hougland early and often with a wide array of potent kicks, and further mashed him with an avalanche of ground and pound. At every turn, Houghland (10-5) fought on, showing no signs of quit despite never getting the desperation takedown he hoped might turn the tide in his favor.
Judges awarded Jabouin the win by scores of 30-27 (twice) and 30-26. Jabouin, 18-7, has now prevailed in three straight.
Fabio Maldonado loves nothing more than to bury his head in your chest, and dig away to the body. Nobody’s gonna confuse the Brazilian’s power with say, Joe Frazier, but it’s proved highly effective for the ultra-aggressive 205-pounder. While Maldonado generally relies on volume to wear opponents down, Igor Pokrajac specializes in power and knockouts. The collision of the two styles produced a back-and-forth war of attrition that ended with Pokrajac being awarded a unanimous decision by scores of 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27.
The bout was much closer than the scores indicated, as evidenced by a parade of fans who booed the decision.
Pokrajac (25-8) scored a bear hug takedown early and controlled the first half of the round with top position and ground and pound. But the second half of the round belonged to Maldonado (18-5), who roared back on the strength of left hooks that stunned the Croatian. Maldonado followed up with nice flurry of punches against a covered up Pokrajac, and then went strong to body as Pokrajac seemed a tad winded.
But as in the first, Pokrajac owned the early part of the second round, landing crisp 1-2 combinations to Maldonado’s grill. Down the stretch, however, the Brazilian ferociously attacked the body.
Round three saw more toe-to-toe exchanges, with Pokrajac landing some of his best punches of the night, causing bruising and swelling under Maldonado’s right eye. Despite the damage, Maldonado tenaciously stalked and attacked until the final horn.
A straight jab, a power right hand to the head – and Jason MacDonald was free-falling to the canvas. At 50 seconds, Tom Lawlor was running around the Octagon in celebration of his victory and his 29th birthday.
The verbose Rhode Islander dazzled the local crowd with gems such as “Virginia is for lovers” and “(Fairfax) is definitely one of the top 50 best cities to fight in.”
Lawlor improved to 8-4 (4-3 UFC). MacDonald (26-16) has now lost three of his past four.
Ever since being the architect of a 45-pound weight cut for Quinton “Rampage” Jackson two years ago, over a mere eight weeks, Mike Dolce’s star has skyrocketed among 
likes that feeling of warm, homemade food. So I made a lot of soups surrounding that using lentils, beans, seeds and fresh chopped vegetables and quinoa, things like that. A guy like Thiago Alves, on the other hand, is a steak and meat and potatoes eater. 
You know him as The Voice of the Octagon. The impeccably groomed showman with the volcanic vocal chords who revs up the crowd – and 
be burning them off. If you eat carbs past 6 or 7 (p.m.) and you are not exercising, then if you eat carbohydrates then your body naturally stores them as fat. So if you want to lose body fat, along with portion control you also need carbohydrate control, too. So most of my carbohydrates are breakfast and lunch.