Somewhere in the bowels of the MMAmania.com headquarters, Sergio Hernandez weeps.
That’s because he’s lost another solider in the war against meat, as former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) welterweight number one contender Jon Fitch is turning back to the dark side.
He just wasn’t getting big enough without it.
Fitch still maintains a vegan diet throughout the week, but has introduced meat back into his pre-fight regimen to help retain muscle mass, something that makes a noticeable difference in a fighter who depends on a wrestling-based offense and top control to be successful.
The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) standout breaks it all down for Bloody Elbow:
"It's something that I've been experimenting with over the years, but I found out that going 100% vegan was good for me, but I was losing too much weight. I was at 183 pounds, walk-around weight, and that's just too light for me. I don't have enough mass. I like to be between 187-192. I found that if I eat a little bit of meat on Saturday and Sunday, it would give me that extra weight that I need. I recover faster during the week, and I have a lot more energy. Weight management is a piece of cake. If you're a tree hugger type, it makes a huge ecologic impact, not eating meat on those five days of the week."
Fitch will put his skills to the test against Erick Silva at the upcoming UFC 153 pay-per-view (PPV) event from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Oct. 13, 2012.
It's yet another difficult challenge for Fitch (23-4), who's coming off a crushing knockout loss to Johny Hendricks at UFC 141 last December. It was the second straight performance that failed to net him a win, as the former Purdue University wrestler went to a draw opposite B.J. Penn at UFC 127 last year in Australia.
Is he poised to make another run at the division title? Or will Silva be the one to get gold?
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