Ben Thompson will never forget the rush he felt when he first followed his older brother into a gym.
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It didn't take long for the Cooma product to decide this is what he wants to do with his life - to become a world champion. Now the K1 specialist will step out of his comfort zone to take his chance.
Thompson will meet Bulgarian Dimitri Iliev for the MASA welterweight Muay Thai world championship in the co-main event of Monaro Fight Circuit 29 at the Hellenic Club of Canberra on Saturday night.
The rising star leaves home in Cooma every morning to work an eight-hour shift as a spray painter before driving to Canberra for training up to five times a week.
A couple of hours later he is making to 90-minute commute home. For many it would feel like an arduous case of Groundhog Day.
For Thompson, it never is. It is simply what he has to do to realise his dream of becoming a world champion.
Thompson's bout is just one on a stacked MFC card featuring seven title fights - one world, one commonwealth, two Australian, one state, and two ACT - including Chris Burridge's MASA Commonwealth showdown with Kiwi Josh Marsters.
Tickets are almost sold out for the promotion's biggest ever show held in honour of the late John Verran, with his former protege Ben Edwards headlining the card in a heavyweight mixed martial arts bout.
MONARO FIGHT CIRCUIT
Saturday: Monaro Fight Circuit 29 - Ben Edwards v Wallace To'o at the Hellenic Club of Canberra. Tickets from King Ape Supplements.
