Long time UKMMA veteran Denniston Sutherland has faced some frustrating results as of late. Fighting through multiple injuries including the inability to raise his arm without a great deal of pain, the former UCMMA middleweight champion lost his crown when former UFC contender Karlos Vemola out-muscled him en-route to a unanimous decision victory at UCMMA 35 this past August. Sutherland took the result for what it was, however winding up in a bad position against Mats Nilsson at Cage Warriors 59 the following month left Sutherland respectfully dissatisfied with the TKO stoppage.
After years of being one of the top middleweights in the country despite feeling significantly undersized, recent thought has tempted ‘Mad Max’ towards welterweight competition.
“I might just drop to welterweight and give it a go,” explained Sutherland exclusively to MMA Plus. “What I’d like to do is fight guys who are my size, a lot of the guys I’m fighting are way heavier. I’m not going to bulk up and put more muscle on just to fight at their size you know…I just think the muscle will take away your gas.”
Known to some for not particularly completing his weight cuts with much comfort, the extended drop comes initially as a surprise. However, when revealing his intention of conforming to a variety of gym work he’d previously neglected, taking the cut by the horns begins to make much more sense.
“It’s going to be a huge challenge,” he explained. “I have walked around lighter before, but for the most part I walk around in my 90’s (kg), so I would have to walk around I think at 84(kg) to cut to 77(kg), it will be a challenge considering I love my cake,
I’ve got to change my diet up, normally I don’t spend a lot of time in the gym, on the weights, treadmill, cycle and all that stuff. I spend most of my time on the mats but I’ll have to put some time in the there as well, there’s not enough hours in the day to get all your technique, all your sparring and then go pump some iron,
I’d have to change everything really, at the moment I’m doing a personal training course just to get a bit more knowledge, taking a bit more responsibility for my training, that and just getting the diet right.”
Known for his grinding ability to wear down an opponent and gradually break their spirit, a fit and inspired Max could provide the welterweight ranks with an exhausting task. The drop to 170lbs is currently under consideration while Sutherland trains with a relaxed approach, taking it easy on a number of injuries before returning early next year.
Form more on Denniston Sutherland check out issue 2 of the totally FREE MMA Plus Combat Sports & Lifestyle Magazine, coming October 21.
Photo: Mark Blundell
