For One UFC Heavyweight Prospect, the Waiting Is the Hardest Part

Filed under: FanHouse ExclusiveANAHEIM, CALIF. – It’s fight week in Southern California, but for the fighters on the UFC 121 card, the hours pass tortuously slow. There’s a lot of sitting around in hotels. A lot of glancing at the clock. There’s just s…

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ANAHEIM, CALIF. – It’s fight week in Southern California, but for the fighters on the UFC 121 card, the hours pass tortuously slow. There’s a lot of sitting around in hotels. A lot of glancing at the clock. There’s just so much time to think, and thinking only leads to more thinking, which inevitably leads to not sleeping.

For UFC heavyweight up-and-comer Brendan Schaub (6-1), the insomnia is just part of the routine.

“Friday night I won’t sleep,” he says. “I’ll get maybe three or four hours. That’s it.”

The night before the weigh-ins Schaub heads downstairs to one of the workout rooms that the UFC has set up for its fighters, just to get a sweat going. Schaub is one of the lucky ones. As a 240-pound heavyweight, he doesn’t have to cut weight. Others who surround him in the sweaty little hotel conference room aren’t so lucky.