The last time we saw Alessio Sakara in the Octagon was on January 19th, when he scored an impressive victory over James Lee by TKO in the first round. Prior to the bout, Sakara said it would be his last at 205 pounds. Now only 41 days later and 20 pounds lighter, "Legionarius" returns to action, taking on UFC veteran Chris Leben in what will be his first fight at 185 pounds.
A slimmer looking Sakara is training out of the American Top Team Gym in Coconut Creek, Florida, where he's shed the weight with the help of his trainers. Even though Sakara says he feels strong, the quick turnaround from one fight to the next made the process a little tougher.
"I feel great, but the hard part was starting to drop the weight right after my fight in order to make weight for this fight," Sakara said. "I've always fought at 205 pounds, and felt good when I beat James Lee, but I wanted to campaign at 185, so I've started to drop the weight and I feel good right now. I don't feel weak, just a little stronger."
In boxing, we see fighters move from division to division all the time. One of the most drastic was when Roy Jones, Jr., then light heavyweight champion, moved from 175 pounds to 200 pounds in order to take on John Ruiz for the WBA heavyweight title. Jones gained the weight in muscle, so when he dropped those 25 pounds and fought Antonio Tarver back at 175, he didn't look the same, even if it was in victory. After that he went on to lose two straight fights by knockout. Jones attributed those performances to the drop in muscle weight, and a few experts agreed. Sakara remembers Jones' situation far too well, and although he's also losing a similar amount of pounds in muscle mass, he feels his will be different.
"I have great trainers in American Top Team including Andre Benkei, who's an expert in dropping muscle mass," Sakara said. "When Roy Jones dropped weight it didn't go so well for him, but there's other fighters like Miguel Cotto and Jake LaMotta who could drop 30 pounds to make weight and they come out like lions when they're in the ring. Everyone has a different style to drop the weight, but as of right now I can say I feel great. I guess I can explain it a little better once the fight is over, if I felt weak or strong."
"I'm happy to be fighting against Chris Leben," Sakara said. "He's a well known fighter with tons of experience and that serves well for me because it makes me train harder and want it more. I can't wait till fight night because I feel very well for this fight."
Sakara feels that his prior experience of taking on bigger, stronger fighters at 205 pounds will benefit him in the lower weight class starting off versus Leben.
"I feel I can be one of the best fighters at 185," Sakara said. "In my last fight against Lee all I wanted was to win impressively in my final fight at light heavyweight and I did. I feel I'm stronger than most of the fighters in my new division, and it will show."
The main event on March 1st will be the championship fight at 185 between the aforementioned Anderson "The Spider" Silva and another fighter moving down in weight in the UFC, Dan Henderson, who held both the 205 and 183 pound titles simultaneously in PRIDE. It's a fight Sakara will be paying close attention to, but unlike other fighters who believe, or pretend, they can take on a fighter of that caliber immediately and beat them, Sakara very humbly says he's not ready for a Silva or a Henderson.
"I think Anderson Silva is at a higher level than I am right now," Sakara said. "It doesn't mean I can't fight them, but before I take on Anderson or Dan Henderson. I think I'll fight two or three more fights at 185, and then I'll be ready to fight either of them. They both took the long road to get to where they are, and I have to do the same thing. It's the reality. I can live in a fantasy world and tell you I'll be ready to fight both of them tomorrow, but I wouldn't be honest. I need to do the best for my career. I need to do things my way. My time will come."
Just like many UFC experts and fans, Sakara doesn't exactly know who will come out victorious between Silva and Henderson. That, or he's just being cautious and doesn't want to make any predictions.
"Anderson is a great fighter, but so is Henderson," Sakara said. "Henderson has a lot of heart and is always in great shape. It's going to be a magnificent fight. Both fighters have different styles and are two of the best on the planet right now. For the fans it will be a great fight, but this is a weird sport. Sometimes you pick a guy to win and he loses, so I'll just say it doesn't matter to me who wins or loses. I'm just expecting a beautiful fight."
Enough about Silva-Henderson. The new Alessio Sakara, who looks to be in great fighting shape, starts a new chapter in his UFC career on March 1st. The former professional boxer plans on erasing the memories of losses to the likes of Houston Alexander, and just looks forward to this new and fresh start in the middleweight division. Although humble, Sakara just wanted to send one message to his competition at 185.
"My message to my new division is that I love to fight," a determined Sakara said. "It's my life, it's what I do. It's my job. I train to the max to win every fight and come in at 100 percent. That's exactly what each of my opponents can expect from me."
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