by Daniel Patinkin March 2, 2012
StudioMMA
STUDIOMMA, VENICE, CA — Nicknamed the “Patron Saint of Weight Cutting,” strength and conditioning coach Mike Dolce has successfully prepared numerous MMA stars for battle, among them Quinton “Rempage” Jackson, Vitor “The Phenom” Belfort, Duane “Bang” Ludwig, Chael Sonnen, and Thiago “The Pitbull” Alves.
Tonight, Alves enters the UFC octagon against the always dangerous Martin “Hitman” Kampmann, in a scrap that could put one of the fighters within arm’s reach of a title shot. Yesterday, StudioMMA’s own Bobby Cavian had an opportunity to explore some interesting aspects of the sport with Dolce.
Dolce has spent the last six weeks working exclusively with The Pitbull, but the couple of months prior to that presented a revolving door of opportunity. Since December, he has conditioned Johnny Hendricks for UFC 141 in Vegas, Ludwig for UFC on FX in Nashville, and Sonnen for the UFC on Fox in Chicago. But the most controversial of his recent assignments culminated at UFC 142 in Brazil, for which Dolce prepped Belfort. There, for once, it was not the remarkable diet and shape of Dolce’s athlete that was in the spotlight, it was the poor condition of Belfort’s opponent Anthony Johnson. Johnson notoriously missed weight by eleven pounds, a debacle that Dolce discussed with Cavian.
“[Johnson’s] story was that his legs stopped working and he collapsed due to all these health issues when he was close to making the weight. That’s what almost happens to every athlete: when they reach their weight class during the weigh-in, they are not very healthy. Cutting weight is not healthy. I am the first one who said I wish that athletes did not cut weight. But they do. [Anthony Johnson missing weight] took the luster away from a spectacular fight between two great athletes… Vitor was very disappointed at Anthony’s lack of professionalism. But also, we were concerned that Johnson’s team was using this as a tactic to gain an advantage over Vitor: that they were not cutting weight properly and they were going to keep Anthony big, strong and healthy and gladly give away twenty percent of his purse in order to better his chances of being victories over Vitor Belfort, which would do much more for his career than money that he lost. So we were very concerned about that issue. But Vitor showed the heart of a champion by going out there and getting the first-round finish like he did.”
Generally, Dolce’s attitude toward cutting weight is openly negative.
“I am longevity advocate and a health advocate before anything else. So I always recommend doing whats healthiest for the athlete. In a perfect world the athlete would compete at his natural weight. I call it the ‘sweet weight.’ That’s when the athlete is three weeks before the fight. And that’s when he is in best condition… [The] athlete has trained hard for six to seven weeks and he is lean and ready to go. That’s the perfect weight. It is unfortunate that athletes continue to cut weight. And that’s typically not to gain an advantage anymore, but to reduce a disadvantage that the other athlete might gain by being twenty or thirty pounds heavier at the fight night.”
Dolce has a well-developed and specific diet strategy that he espouses for all of his athletes.
“[They should eat pimarily] earth-grown nutrients from real foods — foods that have sustained life on this planet since the dawn of time. That’s the secret… Stay away from any man-made chemicals, toxins, and preservatives, which are really just a money making scheme. So once we are eating earth-grown nutrients, then the body has everything it needs to function at its utmost capacity. That means that if the athlete is training properly he will reach his optimal level of lean mass. That means he is not carrying any excess weight. Once the athlete is in that position, then it’s mild dehydration through water restrictions and electrolyte manipulation that will shed the last few pounds.”
Dolce’s work with his fighters is very meticulous and detail oriented. Typically, during a training camp, he is ever-present, as he has been with Alves over the past six weeks.
“So, for this camp I moved into [Thiago’s] house and got a spare room. We live like roommates. I make the breakfast. Then we go the gym, train, and go home to eat. We relax, then eat again, and get back to the gym. So its a twenty-four hours a day, all the way up to the fight!”
But, as much as it is a science, weight-cutting is an art, and not always perfect. Thiago Alves, in particular, has repeatedly struggled to hit the right number on the scale. At his last weigh-in before a fight with Papi Abedi, he initially came in one pound heavy, an amount of weight that Alves was able to shed in time for a second weigh-in one hour later. Dolce thinks that MMA pundits did not respond fairly to this incident.
“People watch Nascar racing and they want to see car crashes. People watch NFL football to see the big hits, and people watch fighting to see the KO. People want to see the bad, the worse, and then point and say ‘look how bad that guy did!’ That’s unfortunate. Even today, when we did media, half of the questions were about Thiago’s weight! They are looking for the negative story; that’s what makes the headlines. In fact, one of the major websites, after the [Abedi] fight, put up on their headline that ‘Thiago Alves Misses Weight.’ That was their headline! From a journalistic standpoint, that was extremely unprofessional, because it was not accurate. Thiago made weight officially.”
For tonight’s UFC on FX, Alves came in a half-pound below the limit. So no problems there. Moreover, Dolce is confident that we will see a leaner, meaner Pitbull step into the cage. He discussed some of the details of how Alves did things right this time around.
“Thiago and I stay in touch year-round. I structure his workouts and send emails when I’m not there so that we are on the same page. I know exactly what he is eating and I speak with his coaches. They tell me about Thiago’s performance and training, so that when I get there a few weeks before the fight we don’t have to start the work from scratch. Once I’m with him, I troubleshoot if needed, and make sure he has everything he needs to unlock his full potential and perform. Six weeks ago Thiago was 197 pounds. He has dropped 27 pounds since then. … in this fight with Martin Kampmann, you will see what a true combat athlete looks like.
Thiago is not in this game for the money. He wants the world title. He wants to beat the best fighter in the world. That’s why we asked for Martin Kampmann, who is a very dangerous opponent. Thiago Alves is looking to make a statement with this fight. He wants to show the UFC and welterweight division exactly who Thiago Alves really is.”
