The 22-year-old Dunedin man is hoping to out-strike his opponents and be the last man standing when he competes in the King in the Ring eight-man elimination kickboxing event tomorrow night in Auckland.
Sutton will be the South Island representative for the quarter, semi and final format, and with a record of seven wins from as many fights he is confident he has what it takes to give the 72kg middleweight tournament a decent go.
''I never feel overconfident going into any fight, but I am certainly going in well prepared and am ready to put on a good show,'' he said.
Sutton will be up against some much more experienced fighters, but he likes to entertain and at worst he hopes his performance will earn him more invitations to fight in the North Island.
After some strong wins, Sutton earned his place when he won a qualifying fight in Christchurch about eight weeks ago.
Barring a week of binge eating, he said, he was pretty much straight back into training the following week and had been preparing with pad work and sparring as if he was doing three fights.
''Cardio is going to be the big one and, depending how sore I am after each fight, what I do in those rest periods is going to be very important.''
The Todd Group Diamond Star Muay Thai fighter said the past week was all about getting his eyes sharp and keeping his weight down from its usual 77kg.
He said he began competing about three years ago when he came from Wellington to attend the University of Otago, where he is in his third year studying geography and Maori.
Sutton said he was extremely proud to be representing the province and the gym where he learned his trade.
''My father was an Australasian kickboxing champion, so it is kind of in my blood a little bit as well.''
Sutton's coach, Blake Tomlinson, said Sutton was an intelligent fighter who could adapt to any situation, was a good worker and listener, and had a decent set of lungs.
He said while Sutton was going in as somewhat of an underdog, he had carried that tag before and never failed, so this was just another challenge.
The King in the Ring has been running since 2011 across numerous weight divisions. Saturday's show will be its 11th and the fourth this year.
Fighters have been split into two pools and the quarterfinal draw will be made at tonight's weigh-ins, with Sutton in pool B taking on a fighter from pool A.
Pool A fighters Edwin Samy (40 wins 22 losses) Jake Crane (33 wins five losses) and Mike Mathetha, otherwise known as Blood Diamond (30 wins 10 losses), are the favourites, but in the fight game nothing is certain.
The winner will get $10,000, and fights will consist of three, three-minute rounds, with a fourth-round decider if the scores are tied. There is a reserve fight in case a fighter does not make weight or gets injured.
Last year's winner, Dan Hooker, is now an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) contracted MMA fighter.
