February 4 th is quickly approaching and Dennis “The Menace” Bermudez, is gearing up for his UFC bout against Chan Sung Jung aka The Korean Zombie. This main card battle is certainly one I am looking forward to! Dennis is one of my favorite fighters. There’s nothing more impressive than Dennis’ drive to win. It’s quite remarkable to watch him give his all from the minute that cage closes till the final bell. His tank is top notch and his heart is immeasurable. He’s up against a formidable for in the Korean Zombie, who has been missing in action for the past three years. I’m hoping to watch Dennis close the distance and throw him around the cage. Us at long island mixed martial arts are fortunate enough to watch him train day in day out but it’s also fascinating seeing how much these professional fighters bodies change mainly viewed through there social media. Unlike myself which I have eaten myself into no return since Thanksgiving, Dennis has been on solid course to making a successful weigh-in. The grind pro’s put into mats doesn’t begin and end there. They put dedication into their “diets”. Being strict and following a regiment of calorie intake to fue
l those often-depleted bodies is no easy feat. I’ve witnessed fighters inhale pizza’s and ice cream and all the delightful treats our state has to offer, to remove all those “cheats”, and eat smaller servings of nothing but healthy crap like salad and oatmeal (yuck!) and chug copious amounts of water. Granted most of this diet restriction is to make the respective weight of each fighters weight class. I’ve only had to make a substantial weight cut for a BJJ tournament and lost like 20 pounds in a month and I looked like skelator. I did it the wrong way of course. That is the beauty of having a healthy and time appropriate fight camp. I look forward to Dennis stunting the zombies return to the octagon and getting his hand raised in Houston.
-Pat Rivera