BJ Penn on Mike Dolce

[Royce Kim]

http://www.bjpenn.com/bj-penn-breaks...lce-exclusive/

Way different than what we heard from Joe's podcast.

I'm going to trust BJ on this.

[Apperz]

Have to be honest, I read Mike Dolce's stuff and shake my head. I am by no means a professional athlete, but I know that what he recommends wouldn't work for me and I wouldn't be able to afford it either. His recipes all look like Atkins diet and for most people that is going to leave you feeling like crap. I need my carbs

[Apperz]

P.S. Mike Dolce getting $22,000!!?!?!? Some of the fighters on the card barely get that!!!

[Amir Allam]

I love BJ, but his epitaph will read: "Incredible potential, but he refused to train consistently."

Give BJ's well-documented history of surrounding himself with yes-men who can't be bothered to question his inherent laziness, I find Dolce's version much more plausible. Dolce has worked with many dozens of fighters by now, and has thus far had only 3 problematic clients: Rampage (generally lazy and gets fat in between fights), Johnny Hendricks (was injured and also gets fat in between fights), and BJ Penn. Even these three always made weight on his watch. Rampage started camp for his fight against Machida at 260, and Dolce still managed to make weight.

In my opinion, Mike Dolce is little more than a glorified nanny. He cooks all of your meals, makes sure you eat all of your vegetables, and makes you go outside and play instead of watching TV all day. Though it sounds simple, those easy steps are the difference between success and failure in weight cutting. When we pour all of our energy into training, we're more likely to fuck up and eat the wrong shit and drink too much (okay, maybe I just mean "me" when I say "we"). I believe in and try to keep to a whole-foods plant-based diet, but I god-knows-why ate pizza last week while drunk as piss. If I had a Mike Dolce making me delicious food at all hours of the day and telling me to stop drinking after my 3rd beer, I wouldn't fuck up and would probably be ripped.

And history shown that this sort of thing is exactly what BJ needs. He needs somebody to take the reins and force him to train, force him to eat right, and force him to drill technique. He trained with hard-nosed conditioning coach Marv Marinovich for the Diego Sanchez fight and he looked like a professional sodomist for the full 5 rounds. He trained with no-nonsense striking coach Jason Parillo for his fight against Nick Diaz, and his striking was beautiful from all of the slip-and-rip drills (watch that fight again; in the first round it was gorgeous technique from BJ, and then he gassed). He 'trained' with Dolce and made the lowest weight class of his life with no problems.

If BJ had surrounded himself with such quality people for his entire career, we would remember him as the best ever. He could've beaten Jens Pulver and GSP and hell, maybe even Lyoto Machida. He could've held two belts simultaneously. The only blame that falls on his trainers is that he didn't keep the right ones around.

[Royce Kim]

This interview was more of a fact check in response to the statements made in JRE. Was there really food in BJ's house? Why wasn't Dominick Cruz noted as a quality training partner? Does Mike Dolce consider the former bantamweight champion of the world sub-par?

[Apperz]

This interview was more of a fact check in response to the statements made in JRE. Was there really food in BJ's house? Why wasn't Dominick Cruz noted as a quality training partner? Does Mike Dolce consider the former bantamweight champion of the world sub-par?

With Cruz's injury in mind, I wonder if Cruz was counted as a 'sparring' partner or just someone there to help drill and give advice. I can't believe Dolce would be stupid enough to leave Cruz out if he was truly sparring BJ Penn. If he did that makes him a liar.

The way I read it, Dolce wants to keep his ridiculously overrated reputation and he knows BJ Penn's loss was a dramatic one. Dolce is saying 'not me, I had nothing to do with it' and BJ is saying, 'actually, Buddy. You kinda did'.

[chris miah]

Its pretty much the opposite of atkins mate.

[Apperz]

Its pretty much the opposite of atkins mate.

Sorry, I was using Atkins as a way of describing Low Carbs of a certain kind & High Protein - I know that isn't exactly what it is. Dolce, from what I seen, is Low Carbs (breads, pasta, oats) & High Protein with fruit and vegetables added for some carbs / bulk… pretty much what any dedicated athlete does when cutting anyway.

Couldn't do it unless I'm close to a comp, personally. Need my breads and pasta and porridge - buckwheat doesn't cut it

[Sean Marshall]

Sounds like major communication problems. Both probably had there parts to play in the whole situation. Should be a contract stating exactly what Dolce is in charge of doing before hand

I thought it was hilarious that Joe kept trying to get Dolce to say what his weight cutting method is, and he kept dodging giving away any real details. Seems like he tries to imply that that information is available to everyone

[David Rosado]

I love BJ, but his epitaph will read: "Incredible potential, but he refused to train consistently."

Give BJ's well-documented history of surrounding himself with yes-men who can't be bothered to question his inherent laziness, I find Dolce's version much more plausible. Dolce has worked with many dozens of fighters by now, and has thus far had only 3 problematic clients: Rampage (generally lazy and gets fat in between fights), Johnny Hendricks (was injured and also gets fat in between fights), and BJ Penn. Even these three always made weight on his watch. Rampage started camp for his fight against Machida at 260, and Dolce still managed to make weight.

In my opinion, Mike Dolce is little more than a glorified nanny. He cooks all of your meals, makes sure you eat all of your vegetables, and makes you go outside and play instead of watching TV all day. Though it sounds simple, those easy steps are the difference between success and failure in weight cutting. When we pour all of our energy into training, we're more likely to fuck up and eat the wrong shit and drink too much (okay, maybe I just mean "me" when I say "we"). I believe in and try to keep to a whole-foods plant-based diet, but I god-knows-why ate pizza last week while drunk as piss. If I had a Mike Dolce making me delicious food at all hours of the day and telling me to stop drinking after my 3rd beer, I wouldn't fuck up and would probably be ripped.

And history shown that this sort of thing is exactly what BJ needs. He needs somebody to take the reins and force him to train, force him to eat right, and force him to drill technique. He trained with hard-nosed conditioning coach Marv Marinovich for the Diego Sanchez fight and he looked like a professional sodomist for the full 5 rounds. He trained with no-nonsense striking coach Jason Parillo for his fight against Nick Diaz, and his striking was beautiful from all of the slip-and-rip drills (watch that fight again; in the first round it was gorgeous technique from BJ, and then he gassed). He 'trained' with Dolce and made the lowest weight class of his life with no problems.

If BJ had surrounded himself with such quality people for his entire career, we would remember him as the best ever. He could've beaten Jens Pulver and GSP and hell, maybe even Lyoto Machida. He could've held two belts simultaneously. The only blame that falls on his trainers is that he didn't keep the right ones around.

I agree man. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard. BJ has been more talented than a lot of guys he's lost to, like Jens. But those guys were willing to work harder for that W. The most unstoppable BJ Penn was when he had Marv Marinovich in his camp. Why'd he get rid of him? Because Marv pushes you when you're ready to be done. And that's what happened with BJ. He got rid of Marv and didn't put anyone around him who pushes him to his limit. And we see the results.

I don't believe Dolce was that responsible for his performance. Dolce didn't tell him to use that horrendous guard and do nothing with it. Dolce didn't tell him to stand straight up like a 1920's drunken gentleman boxer. All Dolce really did is cook for the guy and help him make weight. Sure BJ may not have felt 100%, but in the end, it was his fight strategy that cost him, not his weight cut.