UFC heavyweight Mike Russow (14-1, 1NC) is not one of those imposing fighters who possesses a Herculean physique such as one of his former opponents Todd Duffee. The fighter called himself “fat” in a recent interview with UFC.com.
Despite those comments, Russow doesn’t actually appear that overweight as this video shows from Wednesday’s open workouts. What Russow does posses though, is the ability to finish opponents while standing or on the ground having earned four wins by (T)KO and eight by submission over his pro career.
Russow showed of his knockout power by finishing Duffee at UFC 114 with a memorable finish in the third round, and most recently stopped Jon Madsen at UFN 24 via TKO.
He currently is riding a ten fight win streak into this Saturday’s UFC on FOX 2 event in his hometown of Chicago, and is set to meet Norwegian submission expert John Olav Einemo on the nights prelim card.
“I have been able to stay in shape,” states Russow. “I took a week off after UFC 136 just because that was a long camp, but since then I’ve been pretty much going full-time. We’ve really picked up the sprints and doing more running than we did in the last camp. The intensity has been higher, the workouts have been harder, and conditioning wise, I think I was in great shape last time, but this time we started doing sprints and stuff about six weeks out instead of waiting until four weeks. We’ve done a lot of sprints and running for this camp, which is something we always do, but we’ve been having some real hard workouts and started it out earlier, so I think I’m going to be in even better shape. I always think my conditioning is pretty good. I have a belly, I’m fat and some people see that, but I’m always in good shape. I think as I’m getting older and we’re doing these camps I think we’re tweaking them and being smarter about the way we do things. I think I’m in the best shape right now. I hope that it pays off and I have a ton of energy and hopefully we put on an exciting fight.”
“I think (Einemo)’s a very tough opponent,” asserts Russow. “Obviously, his grappling is something to look out for because he’s a world champion. That’s one of the main concerns we really have focused on for this camp – he’s very dangerous on the ground. Even if I take him to the ground or if he takes me down – he’s dangerous. That’s what he’s good at. But from what I’ve seen from him on the tapes, he tries to throw the hard punches too. He likes to throw hard and straight punches. He throws a good 1-2. A lot of times, he likes to lead off with his right hand. He likes to stand on the feet. In the Dave Herman fight, he only took him down like once and the rest of the time they fought on their feet. I definitely think I can get the takedowns on him. That is my goal to get the takedowns and once I get him down to stay in good position.”