Not many people would give up their Christmas holidays to be punched in the face.
While many people are settling into the festive season with some leisure and relaxation Brogan Anderson is preparing for festivities of a different nature.
The Dunedin mixed martial arts fighter leaves today for Albuquerque, New Mexico, in the United States, where he will spend three months training at the Jackson Wink MMA Academy, a collaboration between coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.
It is considered one of the best gyms in the world and is the training base of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm and former light heavyweight champion Jon ‘‘Bones'' Jones.
Anderson said training at such a high-class facility had always been a dream of his and he felt a combination of ‘‘nerves and excitement''.
‘‘If I had to choose anywhere in the world to go to this would be it,'' he said.‘‘Learning new ideas and techniques and clashing with top-level guys on a daily basis is going to be the best thing for me.''The 26-year-old personal trainer said having some one-on-one sessions with the coaches, and Jackson in particular, would also be a real highlight.
Winner of multiple World MMA Awards, Jackson has a 23-year training background, has no martial art belt and is considered the mathematician of the MMA world.
He uses concepts like spreadsheets and game trees, and collates endless data to determine what moves and positions are most successful and what are not.
He analyses an opponent's weaknesses and then plots their downfall by training his fighters to break their opponent's will and beat them at their strengths.
‘‘He is a bit of a MMA mastermind.''
Anderson will eat, sleep and breathe MMA while he stays in the academy's on-site dormitory, built to accommodate more than 100 fighters.
He will have access to state-of-the-art training equipment and technology at the new facility, a physiotherapist, swimming pool and much more.
The biggest part of Anderson's game he hopes to continue to improve on is his wrestling and the No1 guy he would love to get on the mats with is Jones.
Jones (21 wins, one loss - a disqualification) won the light heavyweight title in 2011. He had 12 consecutive wins (second longest in UFC history) and eight title defences (third most consecutive in UFC history), before being stripped of the title earlier this year, for a vehicular hit-and-run incident.
He is scheduled to return to the Octagon next year. Anderson has a non-work visa, so he will not be competing and while he hopes to always be based in Dunedin, he is keen to make the trip a regular thing. F
ighting in America is something he is interested in.‘‘Splitting my time between here and there would be the ultimate goal.''All up, the trip will cost Anderson about $15,000.
He said he saved some money himself, but also fundraised a large portion and owed a debt of gratitude to Dunedin people Justin and Eterei Stonelake, Lance Spence, Brent Lucas, Ross Smaill, John Gallivan, Gokhan Gilik, Bryan Usher, Gary Chalklin and all the people that turned up to a poker day.
Anderson joined the Team Hammerhead gym in 2010 and began competing as an amateur the following year.
He had a five-win, three-loss record before turning professional in 2013, when he lost an Australian light heavyweight title fight to Joe Muir.
Anderson won the Supremacy Fighting Championship (SFC) New Zealand light heavyweight title later that year and defended it in 2014 before dropping down to middleweight, with two wins.
Anderson dropped down to welterweight this year and was far from disgraced when he lost the International Sport Karate Association (ISKA) New Zealand title via decision to Auckland's John Vake. He won his last fight, taking his professional record to five wins and two losses.
Anderson said his body was often beaten up, but he was getting better at managing it and he hoped to compete until he was about 35.
His coach, Matt Toa, said Anderson had no martial arts experience when he joined the gym and it was very pleasing to see him evolve into the man he has become.
He said Anderson was ‘‘intelligent and dedicated'' and was not only a fighter, but a coach who was also in charge of strength and conditioning.
Finding tough competition for Anderson was getting harder and harder and establishing contacts in the States was a big deal, Toa said.
‘‘Ideally we would love to see Brogan fight for Team Hammerhead in the UFC, but if at some stage he was picked up by a big overseas team or promotion, we would fully support him,'' Toa said.
