Dunedin man Matt Toa will get his chance when he fights in Industry of Combat New Zealand's fight night in Auckland.
The event on Saturday will see Toa fight Aucklander Steven Warby for the ICNZ heavyweight title.
Toa, a 31-year-old freezing worker supervisor, said he was confident he could come home with the title.
"I've been in camp for about 12 weeks now and been training six times a week, two to three times a day for around four hours, so I am ready to go and want to lead from the front."
He said he would not be in such good condition without the training he had had from John King (Brazilian jiu jitsu), Andy Gillies (boxing), Wahid Wennekes (kickboxing) and team-mate Brogan Anderson, who helped him immensely with his cardio fitness.
Toa expected Warby, who is undefeated in his seven fights, to be a difficult opponent because he usually finished his opponents by knockout.
"I really want to bang it out with him and give him his first loss."
Toa goes into the fight with 13 wins from his 26 fights.
He said if he won, he would like to unify the titles in New Zealand by winning the Supremacy fighting championship belt.
This will be Toa's third title shot in his nine years in the sport.
Since he started, the sport had changed dramatically, he said.
"At the start, you would be lucky to get a fight every six months and you just used to have to take whatever fight you could get, even if that meant giving away a lot of weight."
He said because the sport was better regulated now and there were more clubs in the country, it was much easier to get more regular and evenly matched fights.
Toa has fought in the United Kingdom, Australia and Thailand.
For this fight, he will again adopt the ring name "No-Tap Toa". He got the name in his first fight when he refused to quit, despite receiving what he described as "53 blows to the head".
He lived up to that name in 2007 when he refused to tap out and had his arm snapped in three places by former world champion and current Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor Hector Lombard.
Toa has been a fighter and trainer for Team Hammerhead since it opened in 2005. He is also a promoter for its fight nights.
Two other Dunedin fighters are in action on Saturday.
Gracie Oceania's Phil Lindsay (35) will fight Christchurch man Forrest Goodwin for the ICNZ middleweight title.
Lindsay goes into the fight with six wins from his eight fights.
Lindsay's trainer, Stuart Marks, said Lindsay had been training hard and was in good shape.
"This title has been Phil's goal for a long time and he is ready to give it a good crack."
The other fighter competing is Gracie Oceania's Benoit Auvray.
Marks said the fact three fighters from Dunedin were fighting in Auckland showed how good the calibre of fighters was in the South Island.
Both title fights consist of three five-minute rounds, but there will be a fourth round, if needed.
