Hardcore Championship Fighting Sold
Alessio on Larson
Andy Cotterill Mar 25, 2008
Duncan, British Columbia's John
Alessio (Pictures) is living a dream. Just ask
him.
The 28-year-old welterweight shares his time between homes in Canada and Las Vegas, and he gets paid to step inside a cage and fight. What more could he ask for?
Alessio told Sherdog.com that in getting ready to face Brock Larson (Pictures) on this Wednesday's WEC "Back to
Vegas" card, he has tried a few new things that he hopes will give
him an edge over the tough wrestler.
"For this training camp, I put in 10 hard weeks of training my ass off at Xtreme Couture," he said, noting that for most fights he would be lucky to have half that training time.
"He's definitely a tough guy," Alessio said. "He comes in with a good grappling and wrestling background. He's very physically strong and likes to come out hard and fast."
To counter Larson, Alessio believes that he and trainer Shawn Tompkins (Pictures) have come up with a great game plan.
"I think he's going to be a little more settled down in this fight," Alessio said. "I think he learned with the Carlos Condit (Pictures) fight that he came out a little too fast and needs to settle down a little bit. I expect he's going to be a little bit different, but people are creatures of habit, so he's still going to fight a fast pace. So it'll just fall into my game plan, which is basically to pick him apart in any way possible.
"Ground, standup. I really feel that I can wrestle with him. I've been doing jiu-jitsu for nine years. I'm not really worried about where this fight goes."
At Xtreme Couture, Alessio truly feels that he has the perfect training system.
"When you think about it, when you're sparring at a regular gym you might have a couple tough guys in the gym," Alessio said. "But when you're sparring in our gym and you're looking at your next [sparring] round, and look across at Randy Couture (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Mike Pyle (Pictures), Jay Hieron (Pictures), Phil Baroni (Pictures), Gray Maynard (Pictures), Tyson Griffin -- which one am I going to pick?
"None of them are easy. So there are no easy rounds, no easy days in practice. It's a huge confidence booster knowing that you're going with these guys day in and day out, and when you come to fight, you're just fighting one man."
Another thing that Alessio is trying for this bout involves technology. A company called Hypoxico that produces high-altitude training systems recently began to sponsor him.
"I've been sleeping in that at about 10,000 feet and training at Vegas level, and my conditioning has been the best it's ever been," Alessio said.
The theory behind altitude training or sleeping is that as the human body enters a state of hypoxia or reduced oxygen levels, it struggles to produce the same amount of energy it does under normal oxygen levels. So when the body eventually returns to a normal oxygen level, the body will produce more energy than normal.
To put the 10,000-feet level at which Alessio sleeps into perspective, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz (Pictures) has trained for years in Big Bear, Calif., which is at 7,000 feet.
"Even if it gives you five percent better cardio, then that's five percent better than your opponent," Alessio explained. "And that comes down to the third round. You can give it that much more."
Alessio also has something in common with his upcoming opponent. Both he and Larson have lost to current WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit (Pictures), and the winner of their match may very well be in line for another shot.
"For the Carlos fight, I trained really, really hard, but I didn't pace myself at all," Alessio said. "I really felt that I overtrained my body, didn't taper down in the last week and felt very, very flat in that fight. I trained too hard, and it was my first time getting ready for a five-round fight. Randy Couture (Pictures) gave me his workouts that he did because he's been in numerous five-round battles. I was taking those workouts, and for some reason I was adding to them.
"I know exactly when I peaked, and it was a week and a half before the fight, and that's when I should have tapered down. But I was just like, ‘No, you're just getting tired, got to push it, you'll get in better shape.' It was a learning experience. In the warm-up, I felt like I was in trouble because I was really, really tired."
Alessio had praise and a veiled warning for Condit.
"Carlos is a great champion who has defended his belt twice," he said. "He's super technical, he's a good striker and a great champion, and I hope he holds onto that belt until I get a chance to fight him again."
Outside the WEC, Alessio said he's very excited that the UFC will be making its first Canadian appearance on April 19. He'll probably make the trip north to Montreal with Mac Danzig (Pictures), who'll be fighting Canadian Mark Bocek (Pictures).
"It would have been really nice to have been a part of the first show in Canada. As far as it being in Montreal, I'm not that disappointed. But if the UFC goes to Vancouver and they don't put me on that card, then I'm going to think something is wrong," Alessio said with a laugh.
The 28-year-old welterweight shares his time between homes in Canada and Las Vegas, and he gets paid to step inside a cage and fight. What more could he ask for?
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"For this training camp, I put in 10 hard weeks of training my ass off at Xtreme Couture," he said, noting that for most fights he would be lucky to have half that training time.
Larson is a quality welterweight who should pose a tough
challenge.
"He's definitely a tough guy," Alessio said. "He comes in with a good grappling and wrestling background. He's very physically strong and likes to come out hard and fast."
To counter Larson, Alessio believes that he and trainer Shawn Tompkins (Pictures) have come up with a great game plan.
"I think he's going to be a little more settled down in this fight," Alessio said. "I think he learned with the Carlos Condit (Pictures) fight that he came out a little too fast and needs to settle down a little bit. I expect he's going to be a little bit different, but people are creatures of habit, so he's still going to fight a fast pace. So it'll just fall into my game plan, which is basically to pick him apart in any way possible.
"Ground, standup. I really feel that I can wrestle with him. I've been doing jiu-jitsu for nine years. I'm not really worried about where this fight goes."
At Xtreme Couture, Alessio truly feels that he has the perfect training system.
"When you think about it, when you're sparring at a regular gym you might have a couple tough guys in the gym," Alessio said. "But when you're sparring in our gym and you're looking at your next [sparring] round, and look across at Randy Couture (Pictures), Wanderlei Silva (Pictures), Mike Pyle (Pictures), Jay Hieron (Pictures), Phil Baroni (Pictures), Gray Maynard (Pictures), Tyson Griffin -- which one am I going to pick?
"None of them are easy. So there are no easy rounds, no easy days in practice. It's a huge confidence booster knowing that you're going with these guys day in and day out, and when you come to fight, you're just fighting one man."
Another thing that Alessio is trying for this bout involves technology. A company called Hypoxico that produces high-altitude training systems recently began to sponsor him.
"I've been sleeping in that at about 10,000 feet and training at Vegas level, and my conditioning has been the best it's ever been," Alessio said.
The theory behind altitude training or sleeping is that as the human body enters a state of hypoxia or reduced oxygen levels, it struggles to produce the same amount of energy it does under normal oxygen levels. So when the body eventually returns to a normal oxygen level, the body will produce more energy than normal.
To put the 10,000-feet level at which Alessio sleeps into perspective, former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz (Pictures) has trained for years in Big Bear, Calif., which is at 7,000 feet.
"Even if it gives you five percent better cardio, then that's five percent better than your opponent," Alessio explained. "And that comes down to the third round. You can give it that much more."
Alessio also has something in common with his upcoming opponent. Both he and Larson have lost to current WEC welterweight champ Carlos Condit (Pictures), and the winner of their match may very well be in line for another shot.
"For the Carlos fight, I trained really, really hard, but I didn't pace myself at all," Alessio said. "I really felt that I overtrained my body, didn't taper down in the last week and felt very, very flat in that fight. I trained too hard, and it was my first time getting ready for a five-round fight. Randy Couture (Pictures) gave me his workouts that he did because he's been in numerous five-round battles. I was taking those workouts, and for some reason I was adding to them.
"I know exactly when I peaked, and it was a week and a half before the fight, and that's when I should have tapered down. But I was just like, ‘No, you're just getting tired, got to push it, you'll get in better shape.' It was a learning experience. In the warm-up, I felt like I was in trouble because I was really, really tired."
Alessio had praise and a veiled warning for Condit.
"Carlos is a great champion who has defended his belt twice," he said. "He's super technical, he's a good striker and a great champion, and I hope he holds onto that belt until I get a chance to fight him again."
Outside the WEC, Alessio said he's very excited that the UFC will be making its first Canadian appearance on April 19. He'll probably make the trip north to Montreal with Mac Danzig (Pictures), who'll be fighting Canadian Mark Bocek (Pictures).
"It would have been really nice to have been a part of the first show in Canada. As far as it being in Montreal, I'm not that disappointed. But if the UFC goes to Vancouver and they don't put me on that card, then I'm going to think something is wrong," Alessio said with a laugh.
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