It’s big man day.

Anthony Johnson, Ultimate Fighting Championship’s second-ranked light heavyweight contender, is Shane Ray’s opponent on a cool March morning in Boca Raton, Fla., at XPE Sports Academy.

The battle is on Johnson’s turf, too, a crash course in mixed martial arts against one of the best in the world, a man with one-punch knockout power. Ray survives. He’s not about to let his fight be questioned, so he asserts every drop of energy.

Next up, head-to-head in the trenches with Saints defensive tackle John Jenkins, a man who has more than a 100-pound weight advantage. Brothers Mike and Maurkice Pouncey, 300-pound interior linemen for the Dolphins and Steelers respectively, will take their turn, too.

It’s a bit of an unorthodox training regime, but it has a purpose. The Broncos’ second-year linebacker got a wake-up call in his rookie season. His speed rush wasn’t working against NFL offensive linemen. He needed more strength and better technique.

Once Ray got the hang of power on big man day, it was time to transition to little man day later in the week, when he tried to cover speedy Chargers receiver Travis Benjamin.

Ray played at 234 pounds last season at weakside linebacker, but lacked the size to also play strongside, which limited the versatility defensive coordinator Wade Phillips prefers.

He already was playing behind All-Pros Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware. Rising star Shaquil Barrett was more advanced in his technique and strength so he beat out Ray, who was No. 4 on the depth chart.

It was a learning experience for the 2015 first-round pick.

“At this level you’ve got guys that are very smart in everything they do as far as technique,” Ray said. “Your athletic ability can only take you so far.”

That brought Ray to the XPE gym, where he spent 3½ weeks between February and April training twice a day to get stronger and work on his first step quickness. He gained eight pounds of muscle and now weighs 245 pounds, with 10 percent body fat.

“I feel as big, fast and explosive as I’ve ever felt,” he said last week.

He’ll likely go back to XPE between offseason workouts and training camp.

“We never treat Shane like an outside linebacker,” said Tony Villani, owner of the XPE gym that is home for many athletes before the NFL combine, including four of the top 25 players drafted this year. “We want him to have the strength of 300-pound linemen. We want him to be as smooth as 185-pound defensive backs.”

Feeling the heat

Ask Ray where to eat in Kansas City and he’ll rattle off a list. Obviously, it starts with barbecue. Kansas City Joe’s is Ray’s go-to spot. Fried foods were also a favorite of his. But after 22 years of eating when he wanted and where he wanted, Ray knew he had to change his mind-set to each the next level.

“You can’t just treat it like it’s college and go eat fast food,” Ray said. “Everybody heard Von (Miller) say you can’t eat cheese sticks and put that food in a Ferrari.”

Ray changed his routine for meal plan prep everywhere he went. Leaner meats such as chicken and fish, a lot of water and almost no sugar. Villani’s staff prepared three to four 500 calorie meals for him a day when he was in Florida.

“He’s like an engine, we have to constantly feed him,” Villani said. “He looks like a different person now.”

Broncos strength-and-conditioning coach Luke Richesson will look to advance Ray’s progress in preparation for the grind of a long season.

Ray said last season didn’t go as planned. He had goals of being the defensive rookie of the year, but despite a strong finish he ended with four sacks and spent most of the year watching Miller and Ware.

“It was a shock for him initially,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said in March. “It took him some time to gravitate to those two guys and say, ‘I’m over that. Now let me learn from these guys.’ “

Ray’s already talked to quarterback Paxton Lynch about the pressures that come with being a first-round pick. He shared his experience of feeling “a lot of heat” and learning to tune everything out. His message: take coaching, have fun and love your job.

Pride of your city

Ray didn’t go to South Africa like Ware and Demaryius Thomas or the Bahamas like Barrett during the off-season. He went back to Missouri, splitting time between Columbia, where he went to college, and Kansas City, where he grew up.

It was a warm welcome for the Super Bowl champion. He made stops at his old high school and 7-on-7 team to share his story of getting out of the 64130 zip code, known as the Murder Factory, to find success. He stopped by University of Missouri practices to train on his old stomping grounds.

It was all love until he got the tattoo that caused a big storm. A full back portrait captioned ‘The Town’ of all of Kansas City’s sports teams, most notably the rival Chiefs, along with other notable landmarks.

The backlash was heavy.

Ray’s message to Broncos fans was simple: Kansas City made me who I am today. You don’t get Shane Ray the player without Shane Ray the man coming with him.

Cameron Wolfe: cwolfe@denverpost.com or @CameronWolfe

The Ray file

Broncos linebacker Shane Ray had a lot of expectations, coming in as a highly-touted first-round pick, but didn’t live up to them. Finally healthy after a nagging toe injury and medial collateral ligament sprain hampered him last season, Ray appears ready to dominate. A look back at his rookie season:

Games played: 14

Games started: 0

Sacks: 4

QB hits: 7

Tackles: 20

Tackles for loss: 5

Pct. of defensive snaps played: 31.1

Source: Statspass and Pro Football Reference