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.

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Fedor loses again! Henderson?s power turns out the lights

Facing a third straight loss, Fedor Emelianenko tried some new tricks before and during his fight against Dan Henderson. But his opponent was simply better and a little more resilient in the main event of Strikeforce's event at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

Just seconds away from possibly losing the fight after a Fedor barrage, Henderson kept his wits, pulled off a nifty escape and landed an uppercut that changed the fight. That one punch plopped Fedor straight down on his face where Henderson landed three more shots and referee Herb Dean chose to save the fallen former champ at 4:12 of the first round.

From 2000-08, Emelianenko was considered one of the top three mixed martial arts fighters, if not the top fighter, in the world. He reeled off 31 wins without a legitimate loss (only loss due to fight stopped because of a cut) .

But it's been a rough run recently for the former PRIDE king. He lost via shocking submission to Fabricio Werdum, was dominated by a massive heavyweight in Antonio Silva and Saturday, he was stopped via strikes for the first time in his career by the Strikeforce light heavyweight champ, who came into the fight giving away 16 pounds.

Henderson (28-8) fought 18 times in PRIDE in Japan, so he's well aware of Fedor's place in the sport.

"I've been a huge fan of Fedor forever and I respect him so much as a fighter, and what he has done for the sport," Henderson told Showtime's Gus Johnson. "For me, [this win] is a huge accomplishment compared to a lot of the things I've done in this sport."

The finish was as shocking as it was exciting, simply because it happened so quickly.

Henderson, 40, got off to a quick start, but Emelianenko seemed to get back into the fight when he drilled his opponent with a nice combination that backed him up. Then Fedor landed a thudding left uppercut that dropped Henderson near the cage. Emelianenko went in for the kill without securing top control. He got off three shots that grazed Henderson, but the former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestler used his grappling to grab Fedor's right knee and pull him off. Henderson immediately jumped behind him and unleashed a vicious right uppercut under Fedor's right arm. The impact was delayed for a split second and then Fedor fell flat on his face. Henderson jumped on top, landed two more rights and a left. That's when the referee arrived to save Fedor. All that in roughly nine seconds.

Fedor (31-4, 1 NC) told Johnson, he thought the fight was stopped prematurely.

"I think it was early. I don't want to say anything bad about the referee, but it seemed to me like it was early," Emelianenko said through an interpreter. "I was clearly hit, but wasn't hit flush, directly. It seems like I could've continued."

It was hard to say either way. Fedor did appear stunned as he sat up after the finish, but far from rocked.

Fedor, 34, was non-committal about his future, saying it's God's will whether he fights again. Ultimately, it probably won't be Emelianenko's choice. Emelianenko was reportedly making $1.5 million for this fight. With three straight losses, it's hard to imagine Dana White and company retaining his services.

Henderson's future is also in doubt. This was the last fight on his contract and he'd be a natural to slide back over to the UFC where he was 5-2 during two stints with the bigger promotion. Henderson left the UFC back in 2009, signing a big deal with Strikeforce. He could easily move back into the UFC's 205 or 185 division and be an immediate title contender.

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First bouldering at Stanage Plantation, Derbyshire, UK

Location: Stanage Plantation Date: Sunday 27 July Sunday shone this weekend. A planned trip to the gym was quickly canned and instead we made a trip out to a new bouldering spot. After a recommendation that Stanage plantation had some good climbing (thanks Jonny!) we checked my bouldering guide book and set out. If you’re reading this wondering [...]

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Kimbo Slice?s son is a rising high school football prospect in Florida

Kevin Ferguson always wanted to be an All-American linebacker for the University of Miami. It didn't work out for the man better known as Kimbo Slice, but he may have a second lease on life with his son Kevin Ferguson II.

Kimbo was a great football prospect in the early '90s at Palmetto H.S. in the Miami area. His football career was derailed when his house was destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.

Kevin, a 16-year-old at Booker T. Washington H.S., is the spitting image of his menacing dad (pictured below) all the way down to the trademark facial hair. He's got a big bushy beard, but doesn't have to go with the bald head like his father. Kevin II has a tall mohawk. He looks slightly older than a junior in high school.

"I get that a lot. [People ask] 'Are you 35? Let me see your birth certificate.' I'm only 16. Come on dude! I just turned 16," [Ferguson told the Orlando Sentinel in the video above].

Kevin II is one of nine kids. When his father's in town he stays with Kimbo and the rest of the time he's at Mom's. He has a close bond with his Dad, who fought professionally for both EliteXC and the UFC. Said Ferguson:

"He's a cool dad. He's more like a brother to me, but you also have to keep the respect there because he's also our father ... not just our friend."

Ferguson is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound running back with some extra pressure on his shoulders. People around Miami know Kimbo very well.

"It's a motivation. Kimbo Slice being my dad is a motivation to not be as good as him, but to be better than him. So, when dudes criticize me about who he is, that just let's me know that they know who I am, and I just go out there and try to make my presence known. I don't try to be Kimbo Slice's son, I want to be Kevin Ferguson the second."

It's still early in Ferguson's development. He was backup at Miramar H.S. last year, but still decided to roll the dice by transferring to Booker T, a Florida superpower. If he wins a starting job during his junior or senior year and puts up numbers, he's almost guaranteed a Division I scholarship. On a positive note he also sports a 3.2 GPA.

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Poll: Three fights in, should Zuffa keep up women?s divisions?

Since Zuffa, the parent company for the UFC, purchased Strikeforce, female fighters and their proponents have wondered about the future of their sport. UFC president Dana White has questioned the depth of the women's side of the sport. Would it still have a place in the fighting landscape?

So far, it has. Three women's fights have taken place under Zuffa-led Strikeforce. It started with a June Challengers show, where Julia Budd won a decision over Germaine de Randamie. Next, Sarah Kaufman ripped up Liz Carmouche's face in a decision at a July Challengers card. Finally, Miesha Tate choked her way to the women's title over Marloes Coenen in last weekend's Strikeforce card in suburban Chicago.

But to continue fighting, the women knew that they had to impress and draw fans. As Coenen pointed out at last week's open workout, "The UFC is not a non-profit organization." Tate talked about the opportunity to impress fans, media and most importantly, Zuffa executives.

Now, with three fights including a title fight on the books, have they done it? Imagine that you're an executive with Zuffa. You know that women continually deliver exciting fights and ratings, but you're concerned about the lack of female fighters. Would you support a women's division? Vote in the poll, and tell us why or why not in the comments or on Facebook.

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