Issue 168
June 2018
How Darrion Caldwell stepped across from the wrestling world to become an MMA champion.
Q. What has it been like to develop as a mixed martial artist at Alliance MMA with some of the world’s best fighters?
It’s been a game-changer. Any time I walk out of a sparring session and I’m alive, I feel good that I made it. I pat myself on the back. That room is packed with studs. You spar with one top-20 guy and then you move right on to sparring with another top-20 guy. It’s a task but it’s all worth it.
Q. Dominick Cruz has been in your corner for title fights. What has he brought to your development as a fighter?
He has been huge. He has worked on my development but he has also worked on me sticking to my roots. As bad as I want to go toe-to-toe with these guys, you have to do what got you there, you know? We want to go into other areas but also keep true to our roots. You see Dominick Cruz training four or five hours a day and he has shown he’s the best in the world. It forces you to train four or five hours a day if being the best in the world is your goal.
Q. What have you had to do to adapt your NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships-winning skills to MMA?
If I just go in there and shoot for a takedown, guys will know it’s coming and it will be easier to defend. You have to be able to disguise the takedown. You have to be able to mix in some strikes in there. When you have to worry about punches being thrown at you and submissions to defend it’s definitely different. I would say that if you want to be a great wrestler in this sport you still have to learn the basics of wrestling. It’s not until you learn the basics of wrestling that you can implement them into an MMA-style wrestling game. If you just try to implement an MMA-style wrestling game the chances are it’s going to be a toss-up. If you learn the basics of wrestling and implement a wrestling base you will be steps ahead.
Q. How have you managed to improve your standup to the point where you also got the better of Eduardo Dantas on the feet to win the title?
It was about seeing what was coming to me and being able to see what I was opening up during the course of a fight. It was about working the range and being fast. I wanted to get o and get off first. We worked on all that.
Q. What does your strength and conditioning regimen look like now you’re training for title fights?
It’s not as much weight training but we definitely hit the circuit. I have a personal trainer who does my strength and conditioning. He really focuses on the conditioning aspect, knowing we might go five rounds. I am strong – stronger than the other 135lb’ers. Wrestling is something you can do to maintain your strength, so we don’t focus a lot on the weights. We focus a lot on the cardio by doing sprints and long-distance running.
Q. How much effort does making weight take for you?
That is a pretty brutal process of the sport. Making 135 isn’t too hard, but at the same time, it isn’t too easy. It’s that fair, happy medium. I have to cut a lot of things out of my diet and eat the right way. I have to watch my portions. The last 10 to 12 days, I have to cut out sodium. It’s almost like I do a weight cut before the weight cut.
I walk around at 165, maybe 170lb on a fat day. I like to get down to a reasonable weight during camp, similar to a weight I will fight at on fight night. After wrapping that title around my waist, it’s all worth it.
