Working in MMA: Mike Dolce talks about peak performance, Maury and manicures

This week, Cagewriter is taking a look at the different jobs that help the MMA world turn. See part I of the series here.

Today, we look at Mike Dolce, the peak performance coach who is known to help fighters improve their nutrition, and in turn, the way they fight. After working as a strength coach for 20 years and appearing on the seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Dolce has worked with fighters such as Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Thiago Alves, Chris Leben and Vitor Belfort.

Cagewriter: What is your job like on a day-to-day basis?

Mike Dolce: I'm running multiple training camps from afar. Right now, in Vegas, I'm running Vitor Belfort's training camp and Mike Pyle's. I also have Thiago Alves coming up, and I'm his head coach. I cover so many hats with him, but Vitor and Pyle, I work specifically with their nutrition and weight management issues.

I say more peak performance coach because I do the meals, I do the weights, I do the overall training management. I'm the filter for the other coaches. I set up the training schedule from day to day. I even structure in their business meetings and social function as they get closer to fight time.

CW: Thiago, for example, you set his day?

MD: With Thiago, I literally set up his 24 hours, seven-day a week schedule. Which coach to go to, when he's not allowed to train, because that can be a problem with him, so I have to pull him back a lot. I have to schedule in massage therapy or alternate therapies to make sure he's not going to go to the gym.

On Sundays, I would schedule "Man-Day." He and I would go have a nice breakfast, and then go to a spa. We'd get a haircut, massages, get our feet and hands fixed it, even the random facial. It's important. I incorporate all those things to make sure my fighters are well-rounded.

I try to keep what I call "the positive bubble around fighters" and not let any negativity in. With Mike Pyle, I would get breakfast ready as he watched a fishing show on Versus, but now the Tour de France is on. It broke our rhythm, so instead of watching fishing, he switched to another channel with Maury and the Jerry Springer show. I'm in the kitchen, 20 feet away and I can feel the negative energy come out of the TV. I had to change the channel just to watch something more positive. You can't start your day with that kind of negative mind frame.

CW: What is a fight week like for you?

MD: I try to get to town a day prior to the athlete, then I set up the hotel room and do the food shopping. For Chris Leben, he got into town on Monday night, and before he even got here, I packed a huge cooler with the proper foods that Chris was going to need. I made sure he had everything he was going to need, coordinate with his team, talk about what his weight cut process is going to be. On weigh-in day, I will be with him through the weigh-ins, and then go back to his room for the rehydration process. That carries all the way through to the minute he steps in the cage, performs, and then even afterwards, when I give him the food and fluids that need to go in his body to help him repair and recover from that. My job typically doesn't end until Sunday morning.

CW: What is the best part of your job?

MD: The best part of my job is spreading health. My primary focus is not world titles, and it's not money, or any of those things. It's to make my athletes as healthy as possible. That's the most rewarding part: seeing kids like Thiago Alves, not so much go out there and have a dominant performance, but it's for him to feel so good and be so happy with himself because his body is in a positive state. Performance is just a by-product of that.

CW: But what's the worst part?

MD: I wouldn't point to a worst part and say that it's bad, but the hardest part is dealing with the ups and the downs of the sport. You can work with an athlete, and have a great training camp and he'll go out there on fight night, and something doesn't work. I'm so emotionally attached to my fighters that it's a hard roller coaster. For me, it's multiple times in a single night.

Actually, the worst part is the time away from my family, but it's a choice, but I'm not going to be a victim to it. It's something we've decided over the next few years to do this.

Follow Mike Dolce on Twitter here. Tomorrow's working in MMA profile will focus on Bernie Profato, head of the Ohio Athletic Commission.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Working-in-MMA-Mike-Dolce-talks-about-peak-perf?urn=mma-wp4867

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Jon Jones Is My Fighter Of The Half-Year

Hello again fans and friends, and welcome back to part two of my ?Half-Year Awards? posts. In crowning ?Fighter of the Half-Year?, I faced a pretty difficult decision. A lot of great fighters have had great starts to 2011, but I don?t think anything really compares to the brand-new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. In only [...]

Source: http://www.fighters.com/07/07/jon-jones-is-my-fighter-of-the-half-year

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Former WEC Champs Urijah Faber and Brian Bowles square off at UFC 139 in San Jose this November

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

FaberUrijah2_150_43.jpg

A pair of former WEC Champions will square off at UFC 139 this November, as Urijah Faber will take on Brian Bowles in a bantamweight fight on the card.

The UFC announced the fight late on Thursday, and it will take place as part of the night's main card from the HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. on November 19.

Faber will attempt to rebound from a loss to Dominick Cruz at UFC 132, his fourth title fight loss in a row dating back to 2008. The five round decision loss was also his first since dropping to the bantamweight division late last year.

Bowles enters the fight on a two fight winning streak since returning from his own loss to Cruz. The 31-year-old Bowles lost his WEC Bantamweight Title to Cruz in March of 2010, breaking both of his hands in the course of the fight. His injuries kept him out of action until March of this year, where he submitted Damacio Page at UFC on Versus 3. He followed that up with a lackluster decision win over Takeya Mizugaki at UFC 132 earlier this month.

The winner of the fight will likely get another fight with Cruz should Cruz successfully defend his belt against Demetrious Johnson at UFC on Versus 6 in October. This UFC 139 card is expected to be headlined by a Heavyweight Championship bout between Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.

Penick's Analysis: This is a great bantamweight fight, but there's a part of me that can't help but feel a little disappointed we're not getting Faber against Miguel Torres. Still, with Faber coming ever so close to defeating Cruz in a razor-thin fight that had arguments for scores in both fighter's favor and Bowles' only loss coming to Cruz himself, these are the two best bantamweights in the division not named Cruz. Johnson is getting the title fight even though many felt he lost his last fight, but he'll still be a tough challenge, and the winner of this one will very likely get the next shot at the title. If Faber and Cruz each win their respective fights here this fall, the rubber match will be the most logical fight to make. On that same note, if Bowles can defeat Faber, he'll more than have earned his shot at the man who took the belt from him.

[Urijah Faber art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9977.shtml

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Bart Palaszewski drops to featherweight for fall fight against Tyson Griffin

WEC stand-out Bart Palaszewski will follow number of 155ers? lead and test the waters in a division ten pounds lighter than usual with his scheduled opponent only a single fight removed from making the same switch ? Tyson Griffin (15-5). The two well-rounded featherweights will face off at UFC 137 as part of what is [...]

Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/07/21/bart-palaszewski-drops-to-featherweight-for-fall-fight-against-tyson-griffin/

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Tavares vs. Credeur, Griffin vs. Palaszewski Added to UFC 137, Nine Fights Confirmed

Late Wednesday afternoon, Octagon officials announced a pair of bouts for “UFC 137: St-Pierre vs. Diaz.” A middleweight matchup between Brad Tavares (pictured) and Tim Credeur, as well as a featherweight scrap with Bart Palaszewski and Tyson Griffin were added to the October 29th show. Tavares and Credeur are both looking to bounce back from [...]

Source: http://www.5thRound.com/82698/tavares-vs-credeur-griffin-vs-palaszewski-added-to-ufc-137-nine-fights-confirmed/

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