Any fight fan worth their salt already knows Dhiego Lima from his time fighting with Team Edgar on The Ultimate Fighter 19. He was a welcome breath of fresh air on what shaped up to be a pretty lack-luster season of the UFC’s reality show.
Lima, who was born in Goiania, Goias, Brazil, makes his home in Georgia, and fights out of American Top Team Atlanta. He has trimmed back down to his actual fighting weight of 170 pounds and is ready to get back at it. Dhiego will get his chance to show us what he is capable of in November against his opponent Pawel Pawlak.
I got a chance to sit down with this rising star and pick his brain about his time in the TUF house, and how he is preparing for his upcoming bout in Brazil.
Aaron Robbins: Dhiego, Thanks for sitting down and talking with me. Ok, now I’m sure you’ve heard this one before, but tell what it was like in the TUF house.
Dhiego Lima: “The Ultimate Fighter house was fun man, one of the best experiences I’ve had in my life. All you have to do is train and eat and sleep, that’s all you have to do. You don’t have to worry about anything, there’s no phone, and you know everything is already taken care of for you. It really made me a better fighter, all you have to worry about is fighting, nothing else. It’s a good thing; it really ages you in the game a lot. Fighting three times in six weeks, I had a great time over there and I came out a completely different fighter.”
AR: Favorite Coaches?
DL: “Frankie, of course, and probably Mark Henry, that guys is amazing man. One of the best boxing coaches and he mixes it up so well. Andre Franco was one of the best too. His Muay Thai is something else. He showed me a lot of things on my kicks that I was doing wrong. It was just the whole coaching staff Frankie Edgar brought, there was really no favorite, they were all just awesome. It was amazing!”
AR: Dhiego, in some of the previous seasons it seemed like the fighters really tore up the house, playing pranks and what not. Your season didn’t seem to have a lot of that. Did the producers have you guys tone it down?
DL: “Oh no man, they encouraged us to have fun. They told us if you guys need anything to drink or anything let us know, they wanted that, but it was just a different season, all the guys in the house were mature. They all had experience and were well trained. Even the guys who lost were great. Usually when guys lose they are still there for six weeks and are like ‘I don’t care, I can’t win anyways’ and start drinking, but it was just different. The guys who lost just kept training hard, they all came out better fighters. Everybody just wanted to learn and get better.”
AR: That’s great to hear! Obviously, it didn’t go the way you hoped in the finals. Tell us about that, and what you’ve done to make sure you get the win this time.
DL: “There was no disappointment, I was just over-trained. I knew I was in the finals for eight months, and I was training so hard the whole time. I never gave my body a break. I wanted to win so bad that I just kept training so hard that by the end of my camp I was just ready for it to be over. I didn’t enjoy it by the end, I just wanted to rest. That’s what I did after, I took it easy for about a month, and got my feet underneath me. There was really no disappointment because I knew what I did wrong, and I know that’s not the fighter that I am. Now I’m ready to show everybody what I’m capable of. I’m back down to my regular weight class. I have a full eight weeks to train for this fight. My body is ready. My mind is ready. I’m just ready to go!”
AR: Speaking of dropping to your regular weight, did you feel out of your element fighting at 185?
DL: “I really wasn’t out of my element fighting at 185, but because I knew I could make the weight so easy my diet wasn’t that clean. I was eating good, but my diet wasn’t where it needed to be for me to perform at 100%. I wasn’t focused on clean eating, but that’s something I’ve realized, you have to eat clean if you’re going to perform. At 170 I’m going to be at my peak, I’ve been eating right for 12 weeks already, and it’s going to be easy to fight at Welterweight.”
AR: How’s the camp down in Georgia going?
DL: “It’s awesome, you know. We got wrestling Monday and Wednesday. We have Jiu Jitsu on Fridays, and sparring Tuesday and Thursday. It’s been great! Our head coach Roan Jucao is amazing. We have some awesome guys like Raphael Assuncao, and it’s just going to be a great camp.”
AR: I know it’s early, but do you guys have a game plan for Pawel?
DL: “No man, Pawel is a complete fighter, so we are just focused on having a great camp. He’s (Pawel) is good on the ground, and good on the feet so we are just preparing for everything. If it goes to the ground I’m ready. If it stays on the feet I’m ready, there isn’t anything specifically that he does that I’m worried about. I feel like I’ll be able to do anything that I want to do against him. We are going to train everything, and whatever comes we are going to be ready for it.”
AR: I’m sure you will be ready. Not to over-look Pawel, but if you get the win, do you have anybody you would like to fight?
DL: “I’m not sure, you know. I’m just looking to get that first win. Once I get that, we’ll see. I’m going to let the UFC take care of that. I’m not the type to call out anybody, but if you put somebody in front of me I’m going to fight them. I don’t care where they are ranked, numbers are just numbers. A fight is fight, and I’ll fight anybody they want me to fight.”
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