It’s Thursday evening in Gresham, Oregon, and the Wolfpack’s welterweight, Mike Dolce, has just finished training at Team Quest when Knucklepit catches up with him.

Like so many of America’s outstanding MMA stars, Mike first became involved in a fighting system while studying at school. “I was a collegiate wrestler and I got injured. After that I did powerlifting as a means to rehab my injury. >From there I started doing a little amateur boxing and made my way up to Team Quest,” says Dolce.

“I tore my right shoulder – a bunch of ligaments… too many to name… some minor tears, some major tears. I was wrestling as a heavyweight, weighing 185 and wrestling 275s, and the wear and tear by the end of the season was a little too much. I tore my shoulder in the state tournament, which I was favored to win. I was hitting a big throw on a guy, and there you go. I couldn’t continue the match… I couldn’t lift my right arm. They had to stop the match, and that was the end of my high school career, right there.”

Unfortunately for this promising young athlete, the match wasn’t all that was stopped for Dolce. “I then lost my scholarship because I couldn’t wrestle anymore. They anticipated a two-year recovery time, and no university wants to invest that kind of money in a guy who mightn’t be able to wrestle anymore.”

With the future uncertain for Mike, he then faced the prospect of undergoing a shoulder reconstruction, after specialists recommended he go under the knife. “You know, that’s the funny thing: I went to ***** (a very famous orthopedic hospital) that dealt with **** (a very famous East Coast football team), and those two professionals could not agree on the injury – nor the procedure.

“If they couldn’t agree on it, I didn’t want them cutting me open. They both wanted to cut me open, but they wanted to do totally different procedures. I’m sure they must have had very expensive Mercedes payments to make, or something like that.

“So what I did – I’m a strength and conditioning coach, and that was the beginning of my next level of development, my elite level of development as a strength coach – I started to really study the physiology of the human anatomy and I was able to rehab that injury on my own, never having surgery.

Mike, what’s your best squat?

“845lbs – drug free.”

And your deadlift; about the same?

“It’s 765lbs. But I actually modified my bench press to an underhand grip as a means to protect my shoulder, so I don’t do overhanded bench presses anymore. It was made popular by a Filipino man by the name of Anthony Clark – he was the first man to bench over 700lbs. Right about that time, I really got into the sport of powerlifting, so I spoke with him, I learnt from him, and I adapted it to my training style.

“It made sense because that’s the way the shoulder joint is made to work: We’re not meant to bow or lift with our arm to the outside – we’re supposed to keep our arms tucked in nice and tight. That’s where we gain more strength.”

I believe you were a municipal tax assessor in New Jersey; are there similarities between the two occupations?

“There are similarities: There’s always somebody trying to take your head off. And I’m totally comfortable in either situation.”

Mike Dolce (blue trunks) of the Wolfpack takes on Jim Abrille of the Dragons
in a welterweight bout at the International Fight League even in Duluth, Ga., 
on February 23, 2007. Dolce won by first-round knockout.

Can you give a brief rundown of your bout against Jim Abrille, please?

“A short rundown is pretty concise because the fight only lasted 19 seconds. Do you want the short story or the long story?”

Whatever suits you, Mike.

“Well, going into that fight was a trial by fire for me with the Wolfpack. I was stepping in to replace Chris Wilson – one of the top welterweights in the United States. He beat Rory Markham, who was undefeated at that point.

“Now I had two professional fights going into the year, so I was a brand new pro; I’d only been training in MMA for two years. Most of the guys had been fighting pro longer than I’d been training. And I started fighting as a light heavyweight, I got my weight down to a middleweight – I’d walk around at about 205lbs – and I was dieting pretty hard because I was scheduled to fight in a match with a same-day weigh in. So I was trying to get my weight down to the mid-nineties.

“I saw Matt Lindland about two weeks before the IFL fight and he said, ‘What do you weigh right now?’ I said, ‘About 292.’ He said, ‘Can you make 270?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I’m planning on making 270 by summertime.’ He said, ‘I’ll give you two weeks.’”

He’s a generous guy, isn’t he?

“Isn’t he, though? And then actually, I thought, holy… This is my opportunity to go from being a brand new pro – nobody’s going to hear of me – to stepping into, in my mind, the biggest MMA event in the world: just the publicity we have with the IFL, and I love the promotion… I just trained my ass off, and being a strength-coach and a nutritionist, thank God. Me, better than anybody, I was able to tie my weight in properly; I don’t crash-diet because I need my body to be able to compete well.

“I tied it in and made weight. I actually weighed in at 169, because I gave myself a pound to be sure. And rehydrated, I probably weighed 192 when it was time to fight. I was just filled with energy, emotion and excitement. I knew if I went out there and I won – especially if I won in memorable fashion – it was going to be impossible for the coach not to keep me on the team.

“I had a lot to prove, plus my bout was the sway-bout: If I lost, the team would have lost, so there was a lot of pressure on me. I got in the ring with a ton of pressure and I thought this was exactly what I wanted. This was my moment to shine. I did not have a single negative thought – everything was positive. And when I went out there, I exploded on that guy.

“I threw a big right hook, and, thank God, I have knockout power – I think from my powerlifting – in both hands. I’ve knocked guys out with both hands to the head and to the body. I knew if I hit clean… When I was a boxer, I actually knocked a guy out through his gloves one time: He blocked one of my hooks with his gloves, but the impact still knocked him out.”

So your fist hitting his blocking fist against his jaw knocked him out?

“Knocked him out. And that was when I was a boxer with 12-ounce gloves on. If I hit you with these little four-ounce gloves, not only do I knock you out, but I usually do some pretty serious damage. And that helps me from a confidence standpoint: I know I just need to connect with one of these shots, and this guy’s going to be in a bad, bad way.

“Thankfully, I mean luck had something to do with it… the first exchange: Boom, I threw a right hand, and he threw a right hand. I slipped and patted his and he just ate mine right on the jaw. He went down and I jumped on top of him, and dropped a few more bombs, and it was over.”

Mike Dolce vs. Delson Heleno

Your nickname is ‘Skull Cracker’. You weren’t the one who pushed Keith Richards in Fiji were you?

“No, no; I heard about that, but that wasn’t me.”

How did you get that name?

“The name started out as a bit of a joke because of my ability to not just knock guys out, but when I do, they usually incur pretty serious damage. The name has kind of followed me around, and the fans, announcers and promoters all love it. But to clarify it: My nickname isn’t ‘Skull Cracker’, per se. I don’t have a nickname, but my style is skull cracking.

“Some guys’ style is boxing, or wrestling, or jiu jitsu – mine is simply skull cracking because that’s what I’m really trying to do. When I’m fighting on the feet, I just want to crack the skull like a nut, and then go home to my family.”

Do you still do the powerlifting training?

“I do the weights, but I don’t powerlift anymore. I built up such a solid foundation, that I’ll never lose that. Right now, I train to be faster and more resilient to injury-proof my body. Chris Wilson is my striking coach these days, which is awesome: I kinda came with the brute force and Chris has really helped me hone that and turn me into a respectable striker, so I give him a lot of credit for the things I’ve been able to do in the ring. He works with me every single day: He helps refine me.”

Is Matt Lindland very involved in your training and fight preparation?

“Yes, Matt Lindland is one hundred percent involved with us. He trains on the mats with us every single day – not just as our coach, but as our training partner too. I just did a round with Matt; we all do rounds with Matt every single day.

“And then he stands on the outside: He watches us, coaches us, he sets up our training, our drills, conditioning… He watches fight tapes with us and makes sure we have enough food in our houses, and that our families are healthy. He takes care of everything and he’s a phenomenal guy.”

On June 1 you’re fighting Antonio McKee (Sabres). What are you expecting from him?

“I’m expecting a good, hard fight. He’s a superior athlete on the world-class level; he comes from a very strong wrestling-pedigree; he’s been very successful in MMA. The Tokyo Sabres are a great team with a great coach, so I’m expecting an incredible battle. I’m super excited: Antonio McKee is a great opponent for me; he motivates me to get to the training every single day, and I’m excited. I’m ready to go.”

What do you see as being your strengths against Antonio?

“My strength of heart, my strength of character and work ethic. Though I’m a very young pro, I’m still developing and I will be much better next year, and even better the year after that. But I’m ready to go. I’m just a blue-collar fighter – I come from a blue-collar, working-class family. I’ve worked for every single thing I’ve ever gotten. I have zero athletic talent, honestly, so every thing I’ve achieved I’ve had to earn through hard work and sweat. I train with the best fight team in the world at Team Quest, and that just says something about what I’m going to be bringing to the table, come June 1st.”

Mike, is there anything you’d like to add?

“I want to thank the IFL for allowing me to compete in the number-one organization in the world; I want to thank Matt Lindland and the Portland Wolfpack for bringing me on to the team with open arms and giving me the confidence and belief to go out there and perform; I want to thank my family – my wife, Brandy, and my brother, Bob, who live out here with me and support me every single day; and Chris Wilson for working with me every day; and Marc, I want to thank you and Knucklepit for taking the time to talk to me.

“I’d also like to thank all the fans – I have such a great fan-base, and I don’t know why because I’m such a young fighter, but for some reason the fans really relate to me, they respect me, and enjoy watching me fight. And I’m so honored that they support me.”

Sponsors?

“Gerard Dente of MHP - a sports supplement company who sponsored me from my first fight as an amateur, and they’ve been with me all the way up till now as a pro. Their supplements helped me go from 280lbs as a powerlifter down to a 170lb MMA fighter, which is amazing. And Gerard is a great guy: I have to thank him for supporting me all the way along.”