Robelis Despaigne has taken his medicine, embraced life outside of his comfort zone, and is now ready to showcase his improvements.
The Cuban heavyweight, who claimed Olympic bronze in taekwondo at the London 2012 Games, earned a UFC spot after winning his first four fights in rapid-fire fashion, including stoppages in three and four seconds in back-to-back fights.
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His Octagon debut was also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it affair, with Despaigne making a huge impression with an 18-second demolition of Josh Parisian at UFC 299.
With an incredible run of finishes that saw him claim career wins two to five in a combined 37 seconds, Despaigne was matched against Contender Series alum Waldo Cortes Acosta at UFC St. Louis and, in a departure from his prior matchups, he found himself unable to finish his opponent early and, after struggling with his cardio and wrestling defense, he took the first loss of his professional MMA career.

Now, five months on from that defeat, Despaigne is ready to return, and he does so after working hard to close up the gaps in his game.
“I think one of the things that we know is this: you end up learning way more from defeats than from victories,” he told UFC.com ahead of his bout with Austen Lane this weekend.
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“And I think that what came out after that fight was that we need to work more on the ground game, and also on the stamina, the resistance throughout the fight.”
Despaigne has been drilling his takedown defense hard on the mats of American Top Team, where the famed Coconut Creek team has put him through the wringer in preparation for his upcoming assignment.

For lifelong striker Despaigne, it was time well spent as he looks to add more strings to his MMA bow by introducing some serviceable takedown defense to back up his elite-level striking.
“The opportunity that I had there was just different,” he admitted.
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“I had an opportunity to do some exchanges and to train with heavyweights. Rodrigo Nascimento, (Marcos) Rogerio De Lima, and Renan Ferreira, as well. I got to train with all of them, and also some Russian athletes that are there, too. I thought it was a really cool experience.”
Something else Despaigne thinks is going to be pretty cool is the fact that his bout with Lane will see two heavyweights going head-to-head after transitioning from other elite sports.

While Despaigne is a former world and Olympic taekwondo medalist, Lane played four years in the NFL as an edge rusher with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. Being able to face off with a fellow elite athlete from another sport is a challenge Despaigne says he’s looking forward to.
“Life has got these twists and turns, right?” he said of their respective paths to the Octagon.
“I never thought I was gonna be here, but it ended up happening. I said that I was going to do it, and I made it. It’s so cool that we’re actually going to face each other here. It’s going to be a tough fight.
“I watched all of his fights. He’s a tough guy, had a lot of knockouts as well, (he’s) got a long reach like me.
“But I think we prepared ourselves for this fight. I think we eliminated some of the stuff that happened in the last fight, and we're gonna go for it.”
Despite his defeat last time out, and the changes to his training camp, Despaigne said his approach to fights will remain the same. Put simply, he’s looking to put his opponent’s lights out, and quickly.
“As soon as I came in, I came with that hype. So it just happened. I think it’s because of the style that I have,” he said of his reputation.
“So, when I come into a fight, I look for the win. That's what I want to do. I’m not thinking about the crowd – that’s just what I am, right? That's my fighting style. So that's who I am.”
And with that said, his response when asked to give us a prediction came as no surprise.
“First round finish.”
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