While working with him now, what have been some of the major tweaks you’ve made that have helped with your current success?

I’m listening more to my body. I’m sleeping with a heart-rate monitor. I’m seeing if I’m overworked or not. I eat a close-to-ketogenic diet—that’s the closest I can get without giving away all of our secrets.

I can’t be perfectly keto and be where I want to be, though. I still need carbs to burn for energy. I will do more of a simple-carb base in certain amounts. I try to keep my body in ketosis, but for how hard I work out, I’m still able to eat some carbs.

Do you alter your training or diet depending on who your next opponent is?

Yes and no. I won’t worry about what they’re bringing to the table as much, because I know that part of what I’m going to do is going to counter that, if that makes sense. If I go into a fight thinking, “Oh, he’s got a big right hand,” or “He’s got really good jujitsu skills and I have to make sure he doesn’t take me to the ground,” then I’m thinking about what he’s going to do instead of about how I’m going to beat him, and how I make myself better in those areas.

Is it true that you were training for the Ironman Triathlon in May?

Yeah, I’m training as a triathlete for my martial arts career, and an Ironman is something I want to do to show how my fighting training pays off—how it has me prepared for something that requires that kind of endurance and mental strength.

I was signed up for the one in May in Santa Rosa, but I had to push that back—I was hoping to fight before that, but now it looks like I’ll be fighting in July. I’ll have to do an Ironman after, though. I can’t do it before because I can’t break my body down for that and for a fight at the same time. The Ironman will come second and defending my title will come first.

So you’re using this as almost an assurance for yourself and/or a humblebrag about your level of training?

[Laughs] It’s really about testing the body—testing your mental toughness. I went and watched an Ironman in Boulder, Colorado, that my coach competed in, and I was so impressed, not only with him but with everyone who did it. I love to compete, and after that I knew I needed to see what it was all about. I guess I like to torture myself, and that’s a good way to do it.

What differences are there between training for an Ironman and training for a match?

An MMA fighter has to be explosive, so I have to train my fast-twitch muscles. I have to be in anaerobic shape—not just aerobic. I have to have more muscle endurance, and I have to be able to push my lactic threshold. I have to be able to sprint as hard as I can for as long as I can. A fight is a sprint, with a little bit of recovery time in there when you’re dancing around.

Training for MMA is one of the hardest things in the world, because there’s so many energy systems you use in one fight. In that 25-minute period, I’m going to hit my aerobic, anaerobic, and lactic thresholds. When I train for an Ironman, I’m mainly focusing just on my aerobic capacity.

What do your current meals look like?

I usually do three meals and three snacks throughout the day to keep my body fueled up. I eat organic, and stay away from grains, sugars, and processed foods. In the morning I’ll have an omelet with broccoli, spinach, cheese, and ham. I’ll also have some fruit and drink a cold-pressed juice. Snacks are usually MusclePharm protein bars and some nuts.