Cain Velasquez might have missed his calling as a light heavyweight, according to dietary guru Mike Dolce.
The reigning UFC heavyweight champion has been a wrecking ball in a division full of giants throughout his professional career, but despite all of Velasquez’s success, Dolce doesn’t believe he’s been competing at his optimal body weight.
In an interview with BloodElbow.com, Dolce conducted a little "Bro Science" lesson for fans of the heavyweight king:
Personally, I think all combat athletes should be competing in the 8-10% [body fat] range. Heavyweights don't want to hear that. Guys like Cain [Velasquez] that are extremely dominant, because he's such a genetic freak, I can still say, and any sports science person in the industry will agree, he's not competing at his optimal body weight. He may have good results with his competition performance, but truly, that's not an optimal body weight.
Velasquez, who has the physique of an average Joe, directly falls in the genetic freak category mostly due to his insane work capacity. There are fighters competing at an optimal body fat range at lighter weight classes who still lack the cardiovascular output capabilities of Velasquez.
Will Cain Velasquez ever fight at light heavyweight?
Perhaps his prolonged success has eradicated any need for change.
Heavyweight great Fedor Emelianenko was given a pass as an undersized heavyweight over the years. It wasn’t until he started losing that fans began calling for a tighter nutrition plan and a drop to light heavyweight.
Velasquez’s teammate Daniel Cormier recently overhauled his entire diet to drop to 205 pounds, and he has looked just as good, if not better than he was at heavyweight.
The idea of a leaner Velasquez is certainly a great topic of debate, but it is also one that probably won’t yield any substance. There is obviously no reason to fix what already works. Velasquez is comfortable at heavyweight, and he hasn’t given anyone the slightest reason to doubt his ability to sustain success at his current weight. Like Emelianenko, this could be a topic that gets revisited down the road after a loss or two.
Until then, Velasquez can just keep on keeping on.
Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for Rocktagon.
