A lot of fighters, as they prep to fight at the wildly high elevation of Mexico City, have modified their training camp. For some that means leaving home early to acclimate. For others, it means different cardio training. Daniel Zellhuber isn’t one who has put too much thought into it. Being from Mexico City in the first place, combined with his team in Vegas, has left him in a place where he isn’t concerned at all.
“At the UFC PI, they have a lot of great strength and conditioning coaches. They get me ready for coming here to elevation,” Zellhuber said. “The other thing is I am from here. I lived 23 years here in Mexico City… it is nothing that I am not used to. At the end of the day, this is my home.”
Even though he’s confortable with the situation, he did decide to go down to Mexico City a little while earlier than he might have otherwise. In the time he’s been there, he hasn’t even noticed a difference.
“I’ve been here for the last three weeks and I feel great,” he said. “To be honest, I don’t feel the altitude, but I think that’s because I live here. And I’ll well-known for having good cardio – I’m a fighter that’s always trying to push the pace.”
So with that off his mind, he’s in a much better place. However, that doesn’t mean everything has come easy to him during the prep work.
Because he headed South a few weeks early, that means he’s spent additional time away from his team at Xtreme Couture.
“At the beginning, I was kind of nervous because, like you said, right now I’m here with my old team. My Mexican team – they are like my family, but the last three fights I’ve had Eric [Nicksick] in my corner the whole time, Dewey [Cooper], my boxing coach Jorge Capetillo,” Zellhuber said. “Dealing with all of this, it’s a learning experience.”
That learning has gone well for him though. A combination of his mental training and getting a chance to be around some familiar faces has left him feeling like he’s done all the right things leading up to his fight at UFC Mexico City.
“My sports psychologist tells me this all the time, the knowledge they gave me lives in me,” he said. “I know those guys are busy. They are all world-class trainers and they have more fighters to coach. They are giving me their time – don’t misunderstand. Eric is always calling me, checking on how I am, sending me the classes… even with coach Dewey, his nephew is here helping me with the pad work.”
Zellhuber will fight Francisco Prado as part of the main card of UFC Mexico City. That card begins at 7pm EST this Saturday on ESPN+.
