Australian Steve Erceg hopes the unusual move of training in a car park at night will have him primed for success when he faces Brazilian Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight belt in Rio de Janeiro this weekend.
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Erceg is just three fights into his UFC career, but his stunning performances over the past year mean he is now just one win away from becoming a world champion.
The odds are well and truly stacked against Erceg on Saturday night (Sunday EST).
Not only will the 27-year-old be taking on the best UFC flyweight in the world, he will also be greeted by a parochial crowd chanting "uh vai morrer", which translates to "you're going to die".
"For every single UFC event in Brazil when you see the foreigners walk out against a Brazilian, they're getting yelled at like that," Erceg told AAP from his base in Brazil.
Another tricky aspect facing Erceg is the time of the fight, which will be held at about 1am at Farmasi Arena.
The West Australian has come up with a unique way to acclimatise - holding late-night training sessions in the car park of his Brazilian hotel over the past two weeks.
"We are trying to train at roughly the time of the fight, so we've been up pretty late," Erceg said.
"We run five or six kilometres most nights. And out the front of the hotel, there were no mats or anything, so (we've been using) hit pads outside the hotel every night.
"Early on nobody really seemed to bother us, and then closer to the fight fans started arriving and taking more photos.
"It's different now because the UFC staff are here, so we have proper workout rooms.
"But until yesterday, we were in the car park."
Life in Brazil has its dangers, with Erceg seeing first-hand just how dangerous the Favelas can be.
"There were buildings on top of buildings," he said.
"There was one street that was popping off, and they said, 'you can't go up in that street, because there are people with guns over there'.
"We didn't hear any gun go off, but apparently there were some people around that we shouldn't go looking for."
Erceg couldn't help but notice the flyweight belt when his face-off with 34-year-old Pantoja was held this week at the iconic Parque Bondinho Pao de Acucar.
"I looked at it briefly. It was way shinier than I expected," the Australian said.
"The belt is like a cool memento to say what you've accomplished.
"But the thing I'm after is being the toughest guy in the world. That's why I started.
"To fight and beat who people think is the toughest guy right now, that's what means the most to me."
Australian Associated Press
