If knowledge truly is power then Brogan Anderson should be in for a very good year.
The 27-year-old Dunedin mixed martial arts fighter recently returned from three months training at the Jackson-Wink MMA Academy in Albuquerque in the United States.
The academy is an alliance of trainers Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn.
It is the training ground for many Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors, including former woman's bantamweight champion and Ronda Rousey conqueror Holly Holm and the pound-for-pound No1 former light heavyweight champion Jon Bones Jones.
Anderson said the trip was ‘‘a dream come true.''
‘‘I have been over to Thailand before and I didn't quite get what I was looking for, but this time it was awesome, with a real team environment and a lot of top-class athletes with great work ethics,'' he said.
Anderson trained two to three times a day, six days a week and lived in the on-site dorm with six other fighters to one room.
There were about 40 fighters in total at the camp from all around the world, including India and Mongolia.
He said the dorm was a bit cramped, but it was also really motivating to wake up and see others dragging themselves out of bed to train.
Anderson said he had morning classes, private sessions in the afternoon and more technique-based classes at night.
Instead of concentrating on one martial art at once, everything was predominantly worked on together.
‘‘With jujitsu we were working on grappling with strikes, top control and dominating as opposed to just grappling.''
Anderson had no individual time with Jackson or Winkeljohn, but they oversaw classes and passed on tips.
He loved being able to train with only MMA gloves and that the academy was just for MMA fighters.
Before Anderson left for Albuquerque the one part of his game he wanted to improve mostly was his wrestling and the Team Hammerhead fighter felt he achieved that.
Once or twice he even got some time on the mats with Jones.
‘‘It was incredible to get that experience because he is just a crazy talented dude on the next level.''
Jones would go out of his way to talk to people, offer advice and he was one of the first to introduce himself when Anderson and others arrived, Anderson said.
Anderson sparred with the UFC's Donald ‘‘Cowboy'' Cerrone, UFC middleweight Derek Brunson and he spent plenty of time trading blows with UFC welterweight Dominic Waters.
‘‘Every time I sparred with Dom he pushed me to my limits and over the course of the three months I started to have more and more success.''
Anderson said Holm was a frequent trainer, who would often train three to five times a day. There were no egos and they were just regular people and very humble, Anderson said.
He said training in the high altitude of 1600m above sea level was a real killer when he first arrived.
‘‘I just had to dig deep and fight through it and, as the weeks went by, I started to get use to it.''
He learned many little tricks and ways of integrating his striking together and gearing it towards a strategy to win.
Anderson plans on returning to the academy sometime in December.
‘‘I am not at the UFC level yet, but I know I can be.''
With a five-win, two-loss professional record Anderson will co-headline the April 16 Hammerhead show in Dunedin.
