Elite Athletes Ltd: UFC fight night 42 fight week part 2

Thursday was time for media duties. Instead of the old press conferences where the fighters are lined up on a desk and reporters fire questions at the fighters the UFC has recently favored media scrums. The fighters stay at their own 'stand' and reporters come round and ask their questions in groups or individually.

The media part of fighting isn't Ross's favorite thing but with the time he has been in the UFC he has become more comfortable and professional in interviews and comes across really well.

As we were fighting in Alburqueque the home town guys were not staying at the hotel so we hadn't crossed paths with Diego all week. This was the first time Ross came face to face with him and was able to start sizing him up and starting the mind games that are so intrinsically a part of fighting.

In the stare down Diego didn't seem his usual intense self and Ross came away from the encounter feeling like he had Diego's number and saw doubt in his eyes.

The nuances and body language that go into that feeling Ross got is almost intangible. From what everyone else saw as a normal stare down was an exchange of thousands of bits of information that are subconsciously and consciously picked up then processed and evaluated resulting in a feeling and assessment of your opponent. Ross felt he won the first exchange.

Ross was feeling buoyant from the meeting and we returned to the hotel for his last full meal before the weigh in. Ross had been incredibly disciplined this camp with regards to his training and nutrition so he came in a few lbs lighter than he usually is at the start of fight week.

Being that little bit lighter was intentional as the gameplan for the fight included a lot of movement. Also with the pace that Diego is known for setting we wanted his conditioning at its best and being a little lighter helps that.

The weight cut includes manipulating water and salt balance and also the ratio of fat/protein/carbohydrate in meals so that Ross's metabolism is stimulated and firing while still being calorie restricted.

Everything went to plan and by Thursday Ross only had a few lbs to go and was still drinking and eating.

Our Alliance team mate Danny Martinez was also fighting on the card but had a little more to cut so did a light workout in the warm workout room to start shedding some weight. I wasn't managing his cut but he was in the very capable hands of Eric Uresk.

While Danny was working out Eric and I had a good role. It's always good to train with new people and we shared some techniques which is always fun.

We sat in the hot tub for a little while that evening to start the process but went to bed still feeling hydrated and happy.

Ross woke up in the morning with only a few lbs to go. The weigh in wasn't until 4PM so we had plenty of time to lose the weight. This meant that Ross was able to have some fruit for breakfast which shows you how well the cut was going.

We were expected to meet the shuttle to leave to the weigh in at 3PM so we got Ross into a hot bath at 2PM. The hot bath raises his body temperature to start him sweating then we place him under towels and blankets to keep him warm and continuing sweating. We also use sweet sweat to help speed up the process. It's an all natural product and really helps with the cut.

At the weigh in the crowd was massively behind Diego but Ross swayed the crowd a little with his Hisenberg t-shirt. Again, Diego wasn't overly aggressive or intense, he was actually pretty happy and said to Ross that they were going to have a great fight.

After the weigh in Ross and Diego did an interview with fox before heading back to the hotel. Now is when the fun part starts.

Ross started to drink his individualised rehydration drink right off the scales. I don't allow him to eat anything for the first hour as hydration is the priority at this stage and food would inhibit rehydration and be counter productive.

It is also important to drink slowly as the gut can only handle about 1-1.5L of fluid per hour and any more than that would be a waste and could actually disrupt digestion and effect nutrient absorption.

The drink contains electrolytes and salts that are individually matched to Ross's needs. With the help of the sports science team at precision hydration we tested Ross's sweat sodium concentration and matched his rehydration drink appropriately to maximise absorption and speed up the rehydration.

The drink also contains a mix of sugars in the form of glucose and vitargo, amino acids, digestive enzymes (supplied by onnit) and some vitamins.

After an hour the first 'meal' is relatively small and consists of both simple and complex sugars in the form of fruit and natural oat bars.

It would be foolish to try and eat a large meal right away after having relatively small meals all week. It is a common mistake to do so resulting in feelings of bloating and indigestion and can upset the refuelling process. The first large meal is 3 hours post weigh in and consisted of rice, broccoli and chicken with a fresh ginger sauce. That meal was repeated a few hours later. Late that evening Ross continued to hydrate and snack on natural oat bars and fruit.

Coach Eric Delfiero had joined us from San Diego post weigh in and we all went out for dinner together. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of fight week and the whole Alliance team are like a family and are genuinely close so it's always jokes and fun when we go out for dinner post weigh in.

Coach Eric has been a great mentor to me, it has been an honour to work with him and I learn something from him every time we work together. It's also humbling when he asks for input on game plans etc with other Alliance fighters like Dominic Cruz.

On fight day Ross woke up feeling great and we started off the day with some bullet proof coffee. He was fully hydrated and refuelled and felt ready to go.

Late morning we did a light training session and went over the combinations that we had been working during camp and just got Ross's heart rate up and his lungs working.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and Ross slept for a while after lunch. Lunch was actually more like breakfast and consisted of oats with fresh fruit and eggs with Wholemeal toast and avocado.

Back home in the UK there was a big night of MMA with both Cage Warriors and BAMMA having events. I had three guys that I work with fighting on BAMMA and friends fighting on Cage Warriors. We were able to watch the Cage Warriors show and there was some great fights.

During the week I was managing the guys weight cuts remotely and advising and consulting on their rehydration/refuelling. They all went well so I was excited to see the results from their fights.

I had to use twitter to see the play by play of the fights but it was a frustrating way to hear about the fights when you have a vested interest in the result.

First up was Ed Arthur who is an incredibly promising bantamweight who I have been working with for a little while now. He reminds me of Ross when he first started out and has the same great mental attitude and work ethic alongside physical skills and gifts. Ed won by 2nd rnd tko.

Next up was Alex Montagnani who is another promising prospect but who is further along in his career and is getting close to being ready for the big show. Alex was in a fight against a very tough opponent but who wasn't particularly well known which is always risky. Fortunately Alex came away with an impressive 1st rnd flying knee KO which made me shout out "yes!" While we were sat in a restaurant having lunch and made everyone look round.

In the main event was Max power Nunes fighting for the middleweight world title. As with all these guys I wish I could have been there to corner them but sometimes it just doesn't work out. It makes me feel especially bad if they loose in my absence as I feel I could have done something to help if I was there. Max lost by 3rd rnd TKO but I will have to watch the fight before I know what really happened.

We left for the venue about 5 PM and the coach ride over was filled with nervous energy. It had a very different feeling than the coach ride over to the weigh ins.

Ross was feeling relaxed though and we just listened to music on the way over. When we got to the venue we were happy to see that we had really large changing rooms and a great warm up area. We had Brian Carroway, Rafeal dos Anjos, Bobby Volkner and our team mate Danny Martinez in our changing rooms.

As it was around 6 PM and Ross wouldn't be fighting until about 10 PM we relaxed and watched the other fights. If we let him, Ross would warm up for those 4 hours so it's important to keep him relaxed and chilled out.

At about 8PM Ross had his hands wrapped by Stitch. He has wrapped Ross's hands for every UFC fight including Ross's fights in the house. It's now part of the routine and Ross wouldn't want anyone else to do it. He's the best in the business and he has a great calming influence.

Ross then started with some hip mobility and dynamic stretching to warm up. We then did some boxing pads and Thai pads and mixed that with some grappling drills and situational grappling. We finished off with some guided mediation and waited from the call from Burt.

"We Rollin!!!!!"

Check out the next blog for the exclusive inside reaction to the fight and the decision