Mike Dolce Talks Vitor Belfort

Q: What was Vitor’s diet like when you first started working with him?

Mike: “Vitor and I began working together in 2010. When we began, his nutrition was clean but bodybuilding influenced. By this I mean he relied heavily on animal proteins and powdered supplements, common amongst athletes looking to increase muscle size. I helped him develop a sustainable eating program with a focus on health as opposed to sheer muscle size. Now, Vitor is stronger, faster and better conditioned as well as healthy and lean.”

Q: Vitor likes to cut less weight during a fight week, how will you plan for that?

“When I began working with him his body weight was 224lb six weeks before his middleweight fight against Anderson Silva. Two years later, at the same point in training for his fight against Michael Bisping, he was walking around at 204lb. We’ve made great strides in turning the once heavyweight and light heavyweight champion into a true middleweight contender.”

Q: How much weight will he have to cut before the weigh-ins?

“Say today is a Wednesday and Vitor weighed 197lb this morning. That is just 11lb over the middleweight limit of 186lb. Over the following five days he’ll lose another 2lb during this time. Due to the demands of fight week and with proper attention to his nutrient intake, he’ll lose another 4lb whilst eating five meals and drinking over two gallons of water per day. On Friday, for weigh-ins, Vitor will cut no more than 5lb.”

Q: A lot of fighters find it difficult to cut weight as they get older. How has your approach made it easier for him to shed those extra few pounds?

“It is so easy with Vitor because he approaches his body as a business asset as well as a holy temple. It’s much easier for us to keep him at a world-class level because he doesn’t have any of the bad habits that often derail many other athletes.”

Kamaru Usman Talks Vitor Belfort

Wrestling coach Kamaru Usman explains the skills he works on with Vitor Belfort.

Q: How long have you been training Vitor for?

Kamaru: “Vitor has been at the camp for three months now. He’s fit in really well at Blackzilians.”

Q: What was his wrestling like when you started working with him?

“It was at a pretty good level. Vitor is definitely a very tough fighter and his wrestling was at a good enough level that he could avoid the takedowns, and I believe that’s the biggest key when it comes to MMA, especially with someone like Vitor, who is a striker. He’s at a very good level where he can avoid the takedown.” 

Q: What areas of Vitor’s wrestling have you worked on most?

“With Vitor, some of fights he’s had have been against very good wrestlers, so we’ve definitely worked with him to try and avoid takedowns and staying where he’s most dangerous, which is on his feet. Although, he is dangerous on his back as well, as we saw with his fight with Jon Jones. However, he’s extremely dangerous on his feet, so we want to keep him there. We work on various takedown defenses from off of the cage and he’s been doing very well with them.”

Q: In what areas do you believe Vitor could improve his training?

“In every aspect of the game. There are always areas to which you can improve, even though you can be the most dangerous fighter on the planet. For Vitor, I would have to say that he’s very well rounded, but the area that may need a little tweaking is that we haven’t really seen Vitor go and get a takedown, finish it and pound an opponent out from top position. I think that’s the only area that I’d say he might want to show, because a lot of people haven’t seen it.” 

Mario Sperry Talks Vitor Belfort

Q: You’ve known Vitor for years; how has he changed as a fighter?

Mario: “Vitor and I lived in the same neighborhood. I believe I met him when he was seven or eight years old. I’ve watched him go through all his phases and I’ve followed him from the start of his career when he was 18 years old. We trained with each other a bit, but we went different ways. 

“Now he’s more focussed, even more than when he was a young kid. He’s not just physically better, he’s mentally better. Mentally, he’s very well prepared and physically he’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in. 

“He’s very motivated, especially after his fight against Jon Jones [Vitor lost by submission in round 4], where he was on a different level mentally. He took on such an important fight on short notice and the way he fought was great. After this fight he realized he could be a champion again. If this isn’t the best, then it’s one of the best times of his life as an athlete.”

Q: In the few months he’s been with the Blackzilians how’s he improved?

“He’s become faster, stronger and his overall game has gotten much better. He’s always had good hands, always had good jiu-jitsu but now his takedown defense is also good, his endurance is also good. I’m not just taking the credit as the coach or for the gym, but his focus is strong and his mind is in the fight. We’ve got to give credit to him as well for this focus.”

Q: What areas of Vitor’s game would you still like to improve upon?

“He could be better with his takedowns. Earlier on in his career, he had outstanding takedowns, now I don’t see it anymore. Maybe it’s because he had some knee injuries, because I had the same problem. But we can work on that.”