Training out of Team Elevation in Denver, there’s no shortage of great training partners for UFC lightweight Drew Dober.
Dober takes on Marco Polo Reyes on Saturday at UFC on ESPN 3 in Minneapolis, and he’s been putting in solid sparring rounds with top lightweight contender Justin Gaethje. Dober believes Gaethje is the perfect training partner to prepare for the aggressive style of Reyes.
“Fighting a guy like Marco Polo Reyes who likes standing and trading, being a tough striker, I have no better teammate than Justin Gaethje himself,” Dober told MMA Junkie. “Him and I had plenty and plenty of rounds together, and I’m sure people watching our sparring rounds found a lot of entertainment in that. Justin Gaethje puts on a pace that makes you exhausted.”
Dober (20-9-1 MMA, 6-5-1 UFC) saw a three-fight winning streak snapped in a disappointing loss to Beneil Dariush in his last outing. After finding plenty of success on the feet in the first round, a tactical error on the ground in the second round cost him the fight.
“I feel in the first round not getting that finish, there were some adjustments I could make to put myself in a better position,” Dober said. “I think that followed through in the second round when Beneil doubled down on the takedown and really tried to take the fight to the ground. I was just slightly impatient in some situations and just some critical gameplan errors in some other positions. Just some small mistakes, but fighting a top 10 in the lightweight division, you make mistakes.
“It forced me to think about my mental game in each and every training session, just remembering to stay patient and follow a plan.”
And he will look to rebound when he takes on Reyes (8-5 MMA, 4-2 UFC), who has proven he is equally game to stand and trade. Despite Reyes being the owner of three UFC performance bonuses, Dober admits he initially didn’t know who he was. After a bit of research, Dober knew he is set to do battle with a very worthy opponent.
“To be honest, when they first threw the name at me, one I thought it was a joke because his name is Marco Polo,” Dober said.” I just didn’t know who he was and where he came from, but after I watched some video and saw stats and his UFC record, then yeah absolutely it was fantastic. I think Sean Shelby did a fantastic job of getting two fighters in the same cage to entertain the audience.”
With 13 of his 20 wins coming by way of finish, Dober always goes out there with a kill-or-be-killed attitude, and he is mentally prepared for another war. A lucrative finish is always on his mind, but he is prepared to go 15 hard minutes if he has to.
“I think everyone looks for that easy pay check, but the way my mind works, I’m preparing for a ‘Fight of the Night,’ but I’ll take a ‘Performance of the Night’ if given to me,” Dober said. “So, I’m ready for the best Marco Polo Reyes to enter the cage, and I’m there to have 15 minutes of a fantastic firework fight.”
And because he respects Reyes’ toughness, he envisions a late finish.
“I’m always predicting a knockout. I think he’s a tough individual, so it might take me a little longer, so I think a knockout in the third round.”
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