Tag: fast weight loss

Famed nutritionist talks about his beginnings and rise to prominence

by Duane Finley, HeavyMMA.com
In the scientific world, a catalyst is a compound that is necessary for change to occur, but the compound itself remains unchanged. Without its presence, there is no reaction. After the reaction has taken place, it can be removed – and yet the change remains.
Enter Mike Dolce and “The Dolce Diet.”
The program’s namesake has become one of the most dynamic forces to be injected into the world of MMA training and preparation over the past decade. The fighter-turned-coach evolved his nutritional and training theories into what has become his personal mission to shake up not only the way things are done in pre-fight preparation, but to help provide a cutting-edge look at a world of possibilities in the realm of diet and nutrition.
The best-selling author is one of the most sought-after minds in the mixed martial arts community, and while his knowledge and presence has altered lives and changed career trajectories, his personal road began on the opposite side of the formula.
“I come from a blue-collar family on the East Coast,” Dolce explained. “When I was young, my father had a massive stroke and my family was torn apart as a result of it. I was 9 years old and my mother was working three jobs to literally keep the heat on in the house. I knew the only way I was going to get out of that was to get a scholarship. The high school I went to had a wrestling team that was terrible, and I knew the only way I was going to be able to compete with the best competition was to become stronger, faster and in better shape than everyone.
“As an 8- or 9-year-old kid, I was enamored with strength and weightlifting. I was buying all the magazines and staying up until 3 or 4 o’clock reading them, and even at an early age, I was in the library reading up on everything I could find about muscle, diet and fitness. Looking back, it is strange to think I was that young and interested in those things – but it is where my education began. It continued all the way through and hasn’t stopped.”
As Dolce fought to overcome the circumstances of family tragedy, he began to piece together the foundation that would eventually become his future. Unfortunately, before the avenues of success were discovered, his life took another detour into hardship. After an injury erased his ability to wrestle, Dolce found himself back at the drawing board. Down but not out, he began his search for the next step in his life.
“My career was cut short due to a shoulder injury, which resulted in my scholarship being taken away,” Dolce said. “I’ve been a weight-class competitive athlete my entire life, and late in 2002 I walked into one of Renzo Gracie’s gyms. Before my time at Renzo’s, I had already been involved in strength, conditioning and nutritional training, and when I started working with his jiu-jitsu guys it began to take shape. I started working with his guys and grew into this role organically. I had the wrestling base, still had the need to compete and began working with athletes as they prepared to compete for NAGA tournaments.
“This led to another opportunity, and I went up to help coach at Team Quest in Oregon. Randy Couture was still there and had just beaten Tito Ortiz for the title, and I wanted to learn some of the things they were doing. The Team Quest athletes were in the best shape out of all of the fighters in mixed martial arts, and I wanted to pick up that information and take it back to my guys on the East Coast. I hit it off really well with Team Quest, and they offered me a spot on their team as the head strength coach.
“Working at Team Quest added another element to the equation because I began fighting, and this started the evolution of ‘The Dolce Diet.’ I was able to intimately understand the demands and needs of a competitive mixed martial artist. It continued to grow and was a constant evolution.”
In addition to working a full schedule as Team Quest’s strength and conditioning coach, Dolce decided to strap on the 4-ounce gloves and take a look at competition from inside the cage. His wrestling background proved effective, but despite some success, Dolce never considered making fighting his career.
“I enjoyed fighting,” Dolce said. “I enjoyed training and competing, but my career goal has always been to be a coach. And throughout my time in mixed martial arts, I’ve always defined myself as a coach. I fought more or less for fun, and it just so happens I was able to do relatively well based upon my expectations. I hold the fastest knockout in the IFL and was able to get myself onto the seventh season of ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ As a fighter, I competed against a lot of tough guys who were definitely well above my personal skill set.
“If you take a look back at those fights, most of them are great fights that were very competitive. I was a part-time fighter at best who was competing against full-time professionals – and that is the way I always looked at it. I enjoyed the process and the money was nice. I made decent money as a fighter, and I wanted to fight in the UFC because who doesn’t? But it wasn’t a career goal as much as it was a personal aspiration.
“It is kind of weird now that I’m a little older and wiser because looking back, I’m able to see it for what it is. I’ve been a coach my entire life. When I was a freshman in high school, I was a captain of the varsity wrestling program. I’ve always been in a leadership or mentor role, and it suits me perfectly. It suits my personality.”
While fighting may have never been the desired end result for Dolce, it did create a career-turning opportunity. His time on the seventh season of “The Ultimate Fighter” helped bring his diet and nutrition theories to the attention of some of the sport’s top fighters. With a solid track record at Team Quest, Dolce was motivated to take “The Dolce Diet” and his athletes to the next level.
“In the last 25 years of my life, I’ve been competing in weight-class dominated sports,” Dolce explained. “In that environment, you have to eat a lot every day to keep your body fueled – and my mind has always been switched on to eating for performance. ‘The Dolce Diet’ has been a constant evolution throughout the entire process. I’ve been surrounded by the biggest names in mixed martial arts for years and the guys I’m able to work with now are there, as well. I’ve been working with guys like Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Vitor Belfort, Chael Sonnen and Thiago Alves, amongst many other athletes.
“(The Dolce Diet’) is still an evolution, and it’s certainly nothing that is perfected. Every single day, it is getting better and becoming more refined. The principles and applications are always improving, and it is visible in the athletes I work with. They look better every time out. They are stronger, faster and in better shape in addition to being happier and healthier – which I feel is the most important aspect.
“Vitor Belfort is fighting in the UFC. He’s a championship-level competitor. He’s fighting in main events in the sport’s biggest promotion, and while that is all great – I don’t care about any of that as much as I care about him living up to the full extent of his potential as a human being. The point I stress to my athletes is world titles and money are nice, but they don’t mean anything if you don’t have your health. When I focus on the long term, the short-term goals take care of themselves.
“Current science shows the average human can live to be 120 years old if they make very simple lifestyle choices which allow them to unlock that potential. I try to assist athletes in the choices they make throughout their day, and it becomes a lifestyle.”
Dolce was quietly making a name for himself in the world of mixed martial arts, but everything shifted when he agreed to take Thiago Alves on as a client. The former No. 1 contender to the UFC welterweight crown had publically struggled with weight loss for years, and after a highly publicized failure to make weight at UFC 117, Alves’ career, once thought to hold the utmost potential, seemed to be in dire straits. Dolce was aware pairing with Alves would put his methods front and center, but he knew he had the solution to the problem.
“I had met Thiago’s agent (Malki Kawa) when I was working with another athlete about a year prior to working with Thiago,” Dolce said. “Malki had suggested I work with Thiago, and I told him to hit me up if and when he wanted to make that happen. I was really busy and we stayed somewhat in touch throughout the year, but then the Jon Fitch fight happened. When I saw Thiago step on the scale for that fight, I could see in his eyes just how much pain he was in. I’ve been cutting weight my entire life. I’ve cut 40 pounds in less than a month’s time, 30 pounds in a week and have probably cut more weight than most of the guys in MMA. I’ve been there and I’ve suffered. I know what it feels like to suffer, and I could see how much Thiago was suffering.
“On top of it, he’s about to fight Jon Fitch, who in my mind is one of the best athletes in the world. He’s so tough and technical. He’s in great shape, strong both mentally and physically, and how the hell is a kid who is in Thiago’s condition going to step into the cage against Fitch the next night after looking like that? He misses weight by half a pound and gives up $12,000 of his salary to not squeeze out 8 ounces of fluid. Thiago makes that conscious choice, which shows you how hurt he was by the weight cut. As soon as I saw that, I picked up the phone to contact Malki. I told him he needed to put Alves in touch with me immediately.
“Thiago goes in and fights Jon Fitch to a decision, and this is amazing because the kid should have been in a hospital on Saturday instead of fighting Jon Fitch. He loses a decision, and Sunday morning Malki contacted me about working with Thiago. We set up a conference call for the next day, within 5 minutes we have a deal struck, and from that day forward we are a team. He and I have been inseparable from that time forward.”
The relationship between Dolce and Alves has “Pitbull” firing on all cylinders in the midst of a career rejuvenation. Alves has won two of his last three outings and is positioning himself for another run at the welterweight crown. Perhaps more importantly, Alves has rediscovered the joy he once had for the sport and he believes it wouldn’t have been possible without Dolce’s intervention.
“Before Mike, making weight was the hardest thing in my career,” Alves said. “There were times in the days leading up to fights where I would think about giving up and getting a different job. It was because I didn’t know what I was doing. When I couldn’t make weight for the Jon Fitch fight, it was the last straw. I started to realize what was going on with me and the mistakes I was making. It almost put my career in jeopardy.
“I wasn’t happy, and it shouldn’t have been that way because I truly love what I do. It shouldn’t be that big of a chore, that big of a punishment for me to get ready for a fight. I have always competed at the highest level. I’ve been a top contender for a while, and I’ve fought for the title and everyone else who is up there. Looking at it now, I realize I was competing with the best guys, but only working at 40 percent of my ability because I was so depleted before my fights. I would start passing out a few days before the fight. When I fought (Georges St-Pierre), I started passing out on the Wednesday before. It was a common thing for me to do, and I just accepted it as part of the process. I would pass out days before the fight and on weigh-in day.
“That’s the only thing I knew. I didn’t know anything better. I was so motivated and wanted it so bad that I would accept suffering like that. Part of it is that I was young, and when you are young your body can absorb that damage. But it scarred me a little bit and it really (screwed) me up mentally when I would get to the final two pounds. I would get extreme anxiety and it turned my world upside down.
“Today, those things are gone. You clean up your soul, clean up your body for the battle that is coming. I can put all of my focus on the fight now, and before it wasn’t anything close to that. I know cutting weight is something that isn’t easy because you are taking weight off of your body and have to perform well on fight night, but I never knew it could be this easy and you could actually enjoy the entire process.”
Upon meeting with Alves, Dolce immediately recognized where things had gone so far off course for the young Brazilian fighter. He developed a customized system for Thiago to follow, and the results have spoken for themselves. Alves looks better than ever and the smile he once paraded has again returned.
“The most rewarding difference is Thiago is happy now,” Dolce explained. “We’ve become very close, and he’s told me the stories about what he used to do to get ready for fights and the obstacles he would have to overcome just to get into the cage. He used to have extreme states of anxiety in the weeks leading up to the fight. It would increase as the fight got closer. He is a kid that was walking around at 210 pounds, 10 percent body fat. Thiago is a very muscular individual. He’s a monster. He would be so focused on the pain he had to go through to make the weight, it took the love of the sport away from him. The sport became pain, torture and sacrifice in his mind.
“Now that Thiago is with me and following ‘The Dolce Diet,’ he is waking up at 193 pounds, 7 percent body fat year-round. He eats great food and loves his life. He used to be late to the gym for training and dragging himself around. Now he’s bouncing off the wall. He’s trying to add extra training sessions to his week, where he used to do everything he could to get out of them. He’s in such a great place now and his love of the sport has returned. The guys at American Top Team are amazing. They have done so much for him, and that is his family. Now he’s able to embrace that and enjoy what they have to offer, and it’s made all the difference. Now the world gets to see Thiago Alves coming into his own and honing his craft.”
Alves couldn’t be happier with the results and further shared his feelings about Dolce’s methods.
“Mike is a genius,” Alves said. “I’ve been with him for a while and I’ve never met anyone who has the knowledge he has. Mike has been a fighter and competed many times, so he knows the mental aspect of the fight game. The great thing about Mike is that he applies his work to your lifestyle. He doesn’t just come in and try to change everything. When we first met he observed my lifestyle a bit and then decided where we needed to make changes.
“It was a fluid process, and he didn’t come in and try to change everything at once. He guides the ship towards the destination and helps you develop the things you need to learn. But what works for me might not work for the guy next to me, and that is what amazes me about Mike. He has the same goal in mind for everybody, but he adapts to make it unique for the individual he is working with. He designs it to fit into their lifestyle, and I think that is amazing.
“Every day is a blessing. I live the dream and couldn’t ask for anything more. I know I’m not where I want to be yet, but I’m on the right track and have the right people behind me. The past two years have been a big shift for me. I changed a lot of the people who were around me and I’ve finally found the winning formula. I have great people behind me. I’m in a great state of mind. I know in this sport anything can happen at any time, but I’m ready for it. I’m ready for whatever comes my way. I’m excited and I’m out here to take everything I want to take.”

By Ariel Helwani
Video Reporter and Writer
So just how much of a size advantage will Anthony Johnson have over Vitor Belfort Saturday night at UFC 142?
Well, we already know that “Rumble” weighed 204.2 pounds this morning, hours after missing the middleweight mark Friday afternoon when he weighed 197 at the weigh-ins. Belfort’s highly-regarded nutritionist and trainer Mike Dolce told MMAFighting.com Saturday morning from Brazil that Belfort weighed 205 pounds at 9:15 p.m. local time Friday night, and he believes “The Phenom” will be around that weight by the time he steps into the cage Saturday night.
“He may get up to 208 with a full belly,” Dolce said, “but we’ll pull back his food a bit as he gets closer to competition time. [He’ll] probably be 204 tonight.”
Dolce said he believes Johnson will “probably be over 220 pounds” come fight time, but despite the expected weight discrepancy, Belfort never considered turning down the fight.
“We wanted the fight regardless,” Dolce said.
According to Johnson’s manager Glenn Robinson, “Rumble” was en route to making weight until he fell ill Friday morning and needed fluids to get better. However, Dolce isn’t buying that excuse.
“Every fighter is ‘ill’ on weigh-in day. He was bouncing around giving high-five’s in the pre-weigh-in line-up, laughing and looking fine,” Dolce said. “Missing weight is an issue of a weak mind, not body. I have seen thousands of cuts. If an athlete misses it is because he did not prepare properly or he breaks mentally.”
And while the scales will show that Johnson will enter the cage with a size advantage, Dolce doesn’t believe the deck has been stacked against his client Belfort.
“Belfort had the advantage the day the fight was signed. Johnson endured no more trauma than Vitor did. Or, any other MMA athlete. I don’t care what the stories say, all these guys suffer exactly the same and endure the same pain. Either you are prepared or you aren’t. Vitor is prepared.”
Original Article Here

Por SporTV.com
Rio de Janeiro

Mike Dolce fala sobre sua Dolce Diet, as semelhanças com a Dieta Gracie e sobre seus clientes brasileiros: Belfort, Thiago Alves e Luiz ‘Banha’ Cané

Entre o grupo de treinadores que Vitor Belfort trouxe para ajudá-lo no UFC 142, no próximo sábado, está um nutricionista que é um dos nomes mais badalados do MMA no momento: o americano Mike Dolce. Criador da Dolce Diet (Dieta Dolce), o técnico já atendeu centenas de artistas marciais mistos, mais de 60 deles com passagens pelo Ultimate, e está expandindo os negócios para trabalhar inclusive com atores de Hollywood. Poucos recebem o atendimento personalizado que o carioca está tendo às vésperas de enfrentar Anthony Johnson, e Dolce promete que o amigo e cliente vai dar show na Arena da Barra.
– Este é o melhor Vitor que o mundo já viu. Acho que o Vitor é o melhor peso-médio e o melhor lutador de MMA no mundo neste momento. O que ele faz é inacreditável. Todos sabemos que sua trocação é excelente. Seu jiu-jítsu é fenomenal. Mas o que está surpreendendo todo mundo é seu wrestling, está incrível. Ele está lutando como um wrestler americano, muito bom. Está em ótima forma. Mal posso esperar, apenas vejam – afirmou Dolce, em entrevista exclusiva ao SPORTV.COM.
Normalmente, os atletas do MMA passam por uma semana extenuante às vésperas de suas lutas, tentando cortar peso para bater os limites de suas categorias. Isso não acontece com os clientes de Dolce, que enchem a boca para elogiar seus métodos. O próprio Belfort, que tinha 10kg para perder no início da semana, está pronto para a pesagem, sem abrir mão de suas seis refeições diárias, apenas com pequenas mudanças no seu regime. Segundo Dolce, sua dieta é baseada em alimentos naturais, os chamados “whole foods”, sem produtos processados e refinados ou suplementos alimentícios, e isso faz a diferença.
– São nutrientes criados na terra. Comida da terra alimenta o corpo. Não acredito em suplementos – sem drogas, sem pó, sem pílulas, não são necessárias. Deus deu todos os nutrientes que precisamos no planeta, naturais – explicou.
A dieta tem semelhanças com a famosa Dieta Gracie, criada por Carlos Gracie e seguida rigorosamente pelo clã criador do jiu-jítsu brasileiro. Dolce começou a praticar artes marciais com um deles, Renzo Gracie, há 10 anos, e apesar de ter começado a formular sua dieta ainda antes de conhecê-lo, é um admirador do regime da família.
– Eu adoro a dieta Gracie porque ela também é só comida natural, nós dividimos o mesmo princípio. Minha proporção de comidas para cada refeição é a minha diferença para a dieta Gracie. Sou amigo de muitos membros da família Gracie, ainda treino com eles, são meus irmãos. Mas aqui no Brasil, é a casa do MMA e dos Gracie, então estou aprendendo muito, todos os dias e todos os minutos – contou.

Descoberta como treinador no ‘TUF’

Pouco depois de começar a treinar com Renzo, Dolce notou que tinha menos dificuldade para manter sua forma e perder peso que seus companheiros de luta e começou a dividir sua dieta. Apesar de um retrospecto pífio nos ringues – atualmente tem cinco vitórias e 10 derrotas – o lutador conseguiu uma vaga na sétima temporada do reality show “The Ultimate Fighter”, onde rapidamente impressionou o então campeão dos pesos-meio-pesados Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, treinador de uma das equipes do programa. Jackson logo o recrutou para ser um dos técnicos dentro do próprio show e, após o final das gravações, para trabalhar pessoalmente com ele.
Foi a grande chance de Dolce, que depois de Rampage atendeu nomes como Chael Sonnen, Michael Bisping, Gray Maynard, Chris Leben e Jake Ellenberger, entre outros. Em 2011, ele lançou um livro e passou a ser requisitado tanto por pessoas comuns quanto por celebridades do cinema.
– Esta é a beleza da Dolce Diet, é para todo mundo. A mesma dieta que o Vitor come, a Joana come e seus filhos comem. A única diferença é para cortar o peso para competição. Neste momento, dez dias antes, a dieta muda para o Vitor, para o corte de peso. Antes disso, a dieta é para todos: para avós, bebês, mulheres grávidas, atletas… Eu trabalho com muitos atores de Hollywood e agora estou trabalhando com um jogador do New York Yankees (time de beisebol dos EUA), mas não tão pessoalmente quanto no MMA – explicou o treinador, que limitou sua lista de clientes diretos para dez pela falta de tempo.
Entre esses dez, estão mais dois brasileiros: o meio-médio Thiago Alves e Luiz “Banha” Cané, que está deixando a divisão meio-pesado, de até 93kg, para competir na categoria médio, até 84kg. Antes de trabalhar com Dolce, Alves teve problemas para cortar peso para suas lutas e muito se especulou sobre se o cearense não deveria lutar como peso-médio. Para o nutricionista, porém, o “Pitbull” poderia até descer mais uma categoria.
– Thiago pode mover para peso-médio ou para peso-leve. Ele pode competir com sucesso em todas essas três categorias. Nosso objetivo agora é que ele seja campeão mundial entre os meio-médios. Depois disso, decidimos se ele sobe para médio ou desce para leve – disse Dolce, que negou que Alves tenha tido problemas para bater o peso em sua última luta, no UFC 138, contra Papy Abedi. – Ele bateu o peso fácil. O problema foi que as balanças estavam erradas. Na nossa escala, ele bateu o peso certinho. Na pesagem, a escala deles disse que estávamos errados. Cinco outros lutadores – Chris Leben, Mark Muñoz, Cyrille Diabate, Renan Barão e mais outro tiveram o mesmo problema que o Thiago. Fomos para o camarim, ele usou o banheiro – o que é muito raro para uma pesagem, usar o banheiro – e 20 minutos depois, bateu o peso, sem problemas.
Já Cané estará no seu lugar certo como peso-médio, na opinião do treinador.
– Ele era um peso-meio-pesado muito bom, mas era muito pequeno! Ele tinha 96kg, lutando contra caras de 113kg! Agora no peso-médio, ele vai ser um monstro – muito esbelto, muito rápido, e ainda com muita força.
Original article here

Cutting 32 Pounds Off Keith Jardine Was an ‘Easy Process,’ Says Mike Dolce
By Ben Fowlkes, MMA Writer, AOL’s MMAFighting.com
When former UFC light heavyweight contender Keith Jardine first started telling people that he wanted to drop to middleweight, the response was, shall we say, not terribly enthusiastic. He got polite nods from reporters and raised eyebrows from fans and fellow fighters. One prominent trainer who had worked with him in the past even asked me privately, “How? Is he going to cut off a leg?”
And yet, at Friday’s Strikeforce weigh-ins he stepped on the scale weighing 185 pounds on the dot for his title fight against Luke Rockhold on Saturday night. Like many fighters these days, he has nutritionist Mike Dolce to thank for it.
Dolce first met Jardine in 2009 when he was helping Quinton “Rampage” Jackson prepare to fight him at UFC 96. Though they were in opposing corners then, Dolce said, “I was impressed with his professionalism leading up to the fight and the way he conducted himself as a person.” So when Dolce saw that Jardine had quietly purchased his first “Dolce Diet” book — Three Weeks to Shredded — online, he reached out to the fighter to find out what he was hoping to accomplish.
“We spoke briefly that day and he mentioned a possible drop to middleweight at some point in his career,” Dolce said. “A few weeks later he called me after hearing a radio interview I had done and said he went and did his research on me and was very impressed with my lifestyle approach to health, as well as the success of my athletes. We spoke for a few hours that night and here we are today.”
When they first began the cut, Dolce said, the 36-year-old Jardine was 217 pounds “but made the statement the he was very lean and lethargic.” With 32 pounds still standing between him and the middleweight limit, that wasn’t a good sign, according to Dolce.
“You look at a weight cut that’s 30 pounds or more and yes, that’s drastic, but Keith was doing what a lot of athletes are doing: taking supplements and eating like a bodybuilder. No disrespect to those industries, but that’s not what I do.”
Instead, Dolce said, he got Jardine on a diet of “earth-grown nutrients” to maximize lean muscle and drop body fat. For most of his training camp for the Rockhold fight, Dolce said, Jardine was “walking around at 211 [pounds]…and in single-digit body fat levels.”
After that, he said, making the weight was only a matter of “temporarily drying out those muscles” before the weigh-in, thus allowing Jardine to step into the cage on fight night back at what Dolce refers to as “the sweet weight” — roughly the same weight he was maintaining three weeks before the fight. Thanks to his knowledge and Jardine’s discipline and training, Dolce said, “the weight-cut was an easy process for us.”
Doing all that with a fighter in his mid-30s who, by his own admission, hasn’t been down to this weight “since my freshman year of high school” might seem risky, but Dolce insisted that it’s a focus on health first that makes it possible.
“I know 25-year-old athletes who have the bodies of 45-year-olds,” Dolce said. “I make sure my athletes work closely with their doctors, get regular bloodwork, and are 100 percent healthy every second of every day. Like I said, I’m a longevity advocate. My goal is for my clients to live well past 100 years old. It’s nice if they make a few million dollars between their 20s and 30s, but my true objective is for them to show their great-great-grandkids pictures of their world title belts, rather than doing whatever is perceived necessary to win one.”
Jardine will get his chance to take home a strap on Saturday night. By clocking in at 185 pounds he’s already accomplished one feat that few people thought he was capable of. Now comes the other, slightly harder part.
Original article posted at MMAFighting.com Jan. 7 , 2012

by Steven Marrocco
Rest assured that Keith Jardine is just as concerned about his weight as everyone else. Even he’s expressed doubts looking at the numbers on the scale in recent weeks.
He hired a nutritionist to drop weight. Shouldn’t those numbers be smaller?
The answer is no – at least if he’s asking said nutritionist. Mike Dolce has been tinkering with calories longer than Jardine (17-9-2 MMA, 0-0-1 SF), and there’s not a bit of worry in him about Jardine’s path to middleweight, which begins Saturday against champ Luke Rockhold (8-1 MMA, 7-0 SF) at “Strikeforce: Rockhold vs. Jardine.”
“I was like 211 (pounds) a few weeks ago, and he’s all, ‘Nah, man, you’re way ahead of schedule,'” Jardine told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “Don’t worry about it. He will always give me examples of other guys he works with, so he always keeps my mind at ease.”
The middleweight title bout headlines the event, which includes a main card on Showtime. Preliminary-card fights air on Showtime Extreme.
Dolce’s list of clients isn’t a bunch of nobodies, so Jardine has reason to listen. And he’s relayed that sense of ease to the rest of the world – even as the minutes tick toward his time on the scale and his cut seems far too steep for a fight he took on less than full notice.
Like 15 pounds too steep.
That’s where Jardine said he was two days out from weigh-ins, which take place today at HRH Lounge at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. At the pre-event press conference, someone asked him about his weight.
“I’m big,” was his response.
Not exactly a vote of confidence for those expecting a middleweight title bout as opposed to a catchweight fiasco. It’s Jardine’s first time at 185 pounds after a long career at light heavyweight and heavyweight. He didn’t make a test cut to see if he could get there. Heck, he didn’t know he’d be going there for sure until he agreed to the bout this past month.
But he has faith in Dolce, and that’s worth something.
“Every time I start to panic about my weight, he’s right there,” Jardine said. “I’m just so confident right now. I’m not even worried about it.”
What’s more, Jardine said he’s been able to lose pounds without going crazy with starvation.
“I’m eating every few hours, and usually this time of the week, I’m feeling pretty lethargic, and I’m not,” he said. “I feel like I could go get a great workout in, which is a pretty strange feeling. But I’m loving it.”
Jardine will need his energy on Saturday night. He could be fighting Rockhold for up to 25 minutes, something he’s never before done in his career. Rockhold hasn’t lost in more than three years, and this past September, he delivered a breakthrough performance against Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza that won him the belt.
That kind of traction has eluded Jardine during his time in the UFC, which was marked by a long losing streak that erased the momentum of several high-profile victories. His Strikeforce debut this past April ended with a thud when he fought Gegard Mousasi to a draw.
Fighters feed a whole host of platitudes to fans about their training camps, weight cuts and thoughts on opponents, so until Jardine steps into the cage and redlines it against Rockhold, it won’t be known whether Dolce’s work was in vain.
Hopefully not. The 36-year-old Jardine wants to blaze a new, leaner trail.
“It just occurred to me last night – I had no idea I’m right at 30 (fights) right now,” he said. “When I re-evaluated my career and what I hadn’t done and what I need, it’s that belt. And that’s what this fight means for me. After I win it on Saturday, I’m going to be so excited.”
Origial article here

Evolution of a Pit Bull: Improved Diet has Alves excited about UFC future
Words by David Abbou
Still just 28 years old, it’s easy to forget how much of a veteran Thiago Alves is when it comes to fighting. The UFC welterweight contender has already been a competitive fighter for half of his life. The native of Fortaleza had primarily focused on Muay Thai as a teenager, until one fateful day where he was discovered by representatives of American Top Team (ATT), the Florida-based MMA academy, that is widely considered one of the world’s best.
“I was a very particular Brazilian fighter, my background was Muay Thai. I was a professional Muay Thai fighter since I was 15, and I did a couple of amateur fights at 14,” recalls Alves who has grown to become one of the top 170 lb. fighters in the world. “I did some jiu-jitsu here and there in Brazil but it was more defensive, and really just about trying to get back up on my feet. At the time, ATT was picking fighters from all around the world and I was one of the lucky fighters from Brazil that got picked. It was a great opportunity for me to make a living, because back then not a lot of guys in Brazil were able to make money fighting in MMA.”
Alves made the journey to the U.S. at just 19 with dreams of making a living not only for himself, but being able to send money back home to his family. But in order to become a world-class fighter, he knew he needed to develop his BJJ game. Not much after he arrived and met his BJJ master at ATT –
former BJJ World Champion and esteemed Carlson Gracie black belt Ricardo Liborio – he knew he was in good hands.
“When I moved to America and I started training at ATT that’s when I started build a real base for jiu-jitsu. Now I’ve been there for about nine years and I feel way more comfortable on the ground these days,” says Alves who has worked his way up to a BJJ brown belt. “Learning from Ricardo, it’s awesome. I know I’ve gotten so much better, but at the same time, every time I’m training with Ricardo I feel sometimes like I don’t know anything…he’s on such a different level, he’s always ahead of you two, three or four moves…so it doesn’t matter how much better you get he’s always ahead of you. It’s a pleasure because you know when you’re training at ATT that the aspect of the ground game will never ever be a problem and the level of the training with Ricardo and some of the other black belts there is top notch.”
While his sights are currently fixed on becoming a UFC champion, Alves welcomes the day his Professor will present him with a BJJ black belt.
“Too be honest with you I have no idea when he will give it to me!” says Alves with a laugh. “I’ve trained with black belts a lot so if they think I deserve one I’ll take it, but if it takes a while longer that’s fine…it’s definitely something I’m looking forward to getting in the future.”
Alves’ MMA career so far has seen both high and lows, with wins over the likes of Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes and Josh Koschek propelling him to a title shot against dominant welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100 in the summer of 2009. After losing that contest over five rounds, a bout in which he was mainly out-grappled, Alves lost his second straight fight to Jon Fitch. Before that bout Alves struggled to make the 170 lb. limit and knew he would need to make changes to his diet in order to stay a welterweight and still fight to his potential.
“MMA is a sport that makes you humble. If you’re not humble when you start then it will definitely make you humble,” reflects Alves, who recently decided to challenge himself and take his diet and conditioning program to a whole new level by hiring nutritional advisor and conditioning coach Mike Dolce before his most recent fight in November, where he submitted Papy Abedi with a rear naked choke.
Buying in to the Dolce Diet and conditioning program opened Alves’ eyes and he feels like a renewed fighter who is now better equipped to fulfill his life-long dreams in the sport.
“Because I’ve been a pro athlete for such a long time I thought I knew what I was doing, and now he (Mike Dolce) just changed my whole lifestyle. Today I’m very aware of what I’m eating, and know what my body needs and where my body’s deficiencies are. It’s a lifestyle so you become used to eating clean all the time, and whenever you’re allowed to have a cheat meal you enjoy that much more, but at the same time when you’re done you don’t feel good anymore and you want to eat clean again. It changed my life a lot, and also combining this diet with the strength and conditioning program, I feel great and I think the skies are the limit for my future right now.”
After a training camp, diet and condition program and the fight itself are finally behind him Alves loves nothing more than to catch up on some much needed R’n’R.
“I just love to chill and relax and give my body and mind a break and watch my favourite show ‘The Walking Dead’,” says Alves.
Soon it will be back to the gym for “The Pitbull”, as he recently agreed to headline the UFC’s second broadcast on the FX television network on March 3 in Sydney, Australia. His opponent in the main event is talented Danish welterweight Martin “The Hitman” Kampmann, who is fresh off a big win against Rick Story. Both fighters have had a similar development in the sport. Kampmann is also a strong kick boxer, and a BJJ brown belt under Robert Drysdale. Alves is expecting a great test from the Dane, but firmly believes in his own formula for success.
“I think Kampmann is a very tough and well-rounded fighter, and he beat Rick Story so he’s coming back up. But one thing I’m sure of is I’m going to be an even better version of myself not only when I fight him but for every fight after that.”
ORIGINAL ARTICLE POSTED HERE

Holiday season full of good MMA reads
By Chuck Mindenhall
Boxing has produced thousands of books in a century and a half, ranging from technique books, to nutritional, to reference, to literature. The latter is the hardest to come by.
Beginning with Pierce Egan in the mid-nineteenth century, boxing’s chroniclers have turned an artistic eye on what was otherwise known as “the grim trade.” Some of the best sports writing spanning back over the last century centered on the sweet science and its many characters. Why? In part because, as Max Kellerman once told me, people are naturally drawn to fights. It’s instinctive. Kellerman made the “four corners” analogy long before Dana White did — if there’s a basketball game on one corner, a football game on another, baseball on the third, and a fight on the fourth, what are people watching?
The fight. Every time. There’s something about conflict being resolved literally (fists) rather than through the use of metaphors (a ball).
Writers have realized this for a long time, and it’s why boxing has produced so many great articles and books over the years. It’s a game of countless mental and physical layers; it’s not a game at all. Start with those perceptive differences, and many boxing works stray into philosophy as much as they do the reporter’s transference of basic facts. The best of these make the two intertwine (books like Norman Mailer’s “The Fight,” A.J. Liebling’s “The Sweet Science,” Mark Kram’s “The Ghosts of Manila,” to name a few).
In 2011, there were plenty of mixed martial arts books published — more than ever. Not all of them were courting the same muse (though some are), but the five here are MMA-related books that are worth picking up this holiday season.
“Raw Combat” (Citidel Press), by Jim Genia
It’s a suspicious thing that in 2011 a book can be published that slinks to the underground to report on something as ubiquitously legal as MMA — but that’s what Genia’s book does. MMA isn’t yet sanctioned in New York, which means fights are held illegally throughout the boroughs. This is where Genia digs in, at times as a fly on the wall to bizarre scenes, at others as a regular Chuck Palahniuk plunging the fighters for their motivations. What stands out in the end? Not that the sport is illegal and therefore taboo, but that the fighters choose not to go across the river to New Jersey and do it on the up-and-up. Why? The “Fight Club” setting, that’s why. There’s a strange chemical in play throughout. Genia gets at it.
“Tapped Out” (Gotham Books), by Matthew Polly
The author of “American Shaolin” returns with a masochistic work as an everyman who, in his late-30s, undergoes training for an MMA fight. The amateur to professional gap is an often-humorous one while he trains at Xtreme Couture with the likes of Joey Varner and others, and Polly’s self-deprecation in the painful learning process stands out as much as the witty prose. It all culminates with his first professional fight. “Tapped Out” has a George Plimpton participatory thing going on, and Polly’s delivery is “Plimpton-esque.” But the true feat is that he manages to convey just how big the gap is between a regular Joe who thinks of fighting and a professional fighter who fights.
“The Principles of Unarmed Combat” (Turtle Press), by Mark Jacobs
If you know Mark Jacobs, you know the Black Belt writer has a fetish for combat sports that really outfetishes everybody (whether you’re talking empty-handed combat, or fighting with Swiss voulges). His book proves it, as it digs into concepts of not just ring technique but basic back-alley survival — kind of like Greg Jackson’s Gaidojutsu gone berserk. Throughout the 50 chapters layered into 10 dense sections, the idea he’s conveying isn’t just how to put an opponent in bad positions (or to get out of them), but the philosophies behind the ideas. If ever there was a comprehensive look at just about every scenario possible in hand-to-hand combat, whether it’s attack or defense, it’s covered here. Jacobs takes the fine-tooth comb through centuries of techniques, and updates everything to fit in today’s MMA world (and beyond).
“Living Lean” (Conrad James Books), by Mike Dolce
By now you know that Dolce has helped fighters like Thiago Alves make weight, but the thing that’s been under-stressed is that Dolce is a lifestyle changer. Bad habits, like buying out of season fruits, eating too much processed foods, and continuing this on-going charade with Teflon, are some automatic no-no’s. Now Dolce’s got a book out that will help those of you who wonder at his secrets, and it’s full of recipes and workout tips to get you into a leaner, healthier figure. The personal favorite: Bapple juice (apple, beets and chia seeds).
UFC Encyclopedia (DG Books), by Thomas Gerbasi
Very simply put, the most comprehensive look at the entire history of the UFC, from the beginning in 1993 through pre-Zuffa 2001, up until 2011. Over 1,500 pictures, bios and breakdowns of every fight to ever grace the Octagon, of every card that has gone on, of every significant moment, every record, every detail. It’s all in there. What does it say about Thomas Gerbasi, who doubles as the editorial director at UFC.com and as a beat writer for the Gotham Girls Roller Derby team? That he doesn’t sleep. And it’s the best coffee table book for an MMA fan on the market, and a tremendous resource for MMA historians.
Original Article Posted Here

“Keith Jardine Returns to Strikeforce in Dec; Brings on Mike Dolce for Move to Middleweight”
By Damon Martin
‘The Dean of Mean’ Keith Jardine will be back in action this December in the Strikeforce cage, and he’ll have some extra help as he makes his move to the middleweight division.
Jardine first announced that he expected to fight on the December card via his website.
“It looks like I’ll be fighting again for Strikeforce in December,” Jardine wrote. “It’s a little ways off, but it feels good to have a date.”
The card Jardine will appear on will also likely be the landing destination for the upcoming lightweight title fight between Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez and challenger Jorge Masvidal.
While the fight for the former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ 2 competitor is still a few months off, Jardine has been promising a move to 185lbs ever since his last fight in Strikeforce. In that bout, Jardine battled to a draw with former champion Gegard Mousasi.
Following the match-up Jardine announced his intentions to drop down to middleweight after a long career that was spent at both heavyweight and light heavyweight.
To ensure that he has the easiest weight cut possible, Jardine has employed the services of famed MMA nutritionist MIKE DOLCE to lead the charge.
Dolce has worked with several high profile fighters either in an initial weight cut process, or those who have had trouble making weight in the past. In all instances however Dolce’s reputation has made him one of the most sought after trainers in the business.
Jardine told MMAWeekly.com in early August that he would love his next fight to be against former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, but any big name would suffice because his ultimate goal is to get a shot at the 185lb title.
“I’ve fought so many guys that have had the belt, but never fought for the belt myself,” Jardine said. “I’ve probably fought five world champions before, and it’s about time I fight for the title.”
News on who Jardine might face in December has not been released yet, but sources have indicated that the card is still being put together by Strikeforce matchmaker Sean Shelby.
Follow Damon Martin on Twitter @DamonMartin

Matt Mitrione Adds Mike Dolce to Camp for UFC 137 Preparation To Face Kongo
Posted on August 25, 2011 by Damon Martin
Mixed martial arts has become a lot like football over the last few years in the spirit of being a game of inches.
The skill level has hit new heights and once a fighter reaches the point of being in the UFC, the difference between being a winner or a loser can be as simple as eating the right kind of foods before a weigh in or during training camp.
It’s for that very reason that former ‘Ultimate Fighter’ competitor Matt Mitrione is the latest competitor to bring nutritionist guru Mike Dolce on board as he prepares for his next fight against Cheick Kongo at UFC 137 in October.
The creator of ‘The Dolce Diet’ has worked with some of the best fighters in the game, but generally speaking most don’t think about dieting or nutrition when it comes to the heavyweights.
That very perception is what Dolce hopes to change by working with someone like Mitrione, who has shown tremendous athleticism and improvement while building a 5-0 record in the Octagon.
“He and I became friends during TUF 10 and danced around the issue of working together since then, but the timing wasn’t right. Until now,” said Dolce when speaking with MMAWeekly.com on Thursday.
Mitrione was on the 10th season of the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ where Dolce served as an assistant coach to Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson.
Now as Mitrione gets ready for his bout with Kongo in October, he adds another piece to the puzzle that he hopes will get him ready for one of the biggest fights of his young career.
“Nutrition is the only missing piece of me truly achieving my potential,” Mitrione stated.
Coach and athlete will work together leading up to the UFC 137 event in Las Vegas. Mitrione has worked there as well for his camp in the past, training at Xtreme Couture, but has also continued with teams in Indianapolis and Cincinnati to get ready for the bout.
Damon Martin is the lead staff writer and radio host for MMAWeekly.com
Follow @DamonMartin on Twitter