The Ultimate Fighting Championship is one of the most cut-throat promotions in the world.
Fighters can go from being bathed in adulation to having their career jeopardised with some bad results - and New Zealand mixed martial arts fighter James Te Huna knows all about that journey.
As a light-heavyweight, Te Huna joined the UFC in 2010. Three years later, he was on a roll after an impressive five wins from six fights, and was sitting just outside the top 10 rankings.
Things changed later that year when the Dunstan High School old boy suffered first-round losses to Brazilians Glover Teixeira and Mauricio Shogun Rua. Then came a first-round submission loss last year to American Nate Marquardt when Te Huna debuted as a middleweight in the main event on New Zealand's inaugural UFC show in Auckland.
Now, the 33-year-old is ready to climb his MMA mountain.
Te Huna was in Dunedin on Friday night for a public seminar at the New Zealand Fight and Fitness Academy.
He said his body has held him back over the past few years. After competing for about 11 years, being out of action for
nine months had allowed him to get some injuries sorted, including a troublesome right shoulder.
''In martial arts, I have never had a break, so I got to a point where I couldn't work things out and needed that rest, but instead I would try and take another path to try and get better,'' Te Huna said.
''So I started falling behind and went to another path and each time I was taking one step backwards.''
He has a couple of fights left on his contract and aims to compete this year, hopefully on the UFC's Melbourne card in November. A ban that was put in place in 2008 against cage fighting in Victoria - UFC uses a cage known as the ''octagon'' - was lifted this month.
Te Huna, whose record is 16 wins and eight losses, said his next fight would be at light-heavyweight level because the drop to middleweight was too hard on his body.
He made no excuses for the Marquardt loss, but dislocating a finger about 15 minutes before the fight, breaking a thumb while he was in fight camp and having elbow surgery just before the camp severely hindered his performance.
Te Huna had previously won a bout in 2006 after dislocating his shoulder then popping it back in, and another in the UFC against Joey Beltran with a broken hand and bone in his foot.
He considers the Beltran fight his best performance, and Beltran to be the toughest fighter he has faced.
Te Huna said the UFC was predominantly made up of fighters such as himself who had to work hard on improving rather than being ''natural'' fighters.
''Mark Hunt is a natural fighter and there are a few others, but the rest are made up of athletes and non-athletes that constantly train to make themselves better.''
He said the difference between top-five ranked fighters and the top 15 was mainly ''experience''.
''Being strong in the head and believing in yourself is the No 1 thing, and secondly, having commitment and discipline.''
Te Huna said the three defeats were a setback but he believed his ''do-or-die'' style of fighting meant he brought ''something different to the table''.
During the seminar, Te Huna spoke about his 19 years in combat sports, highlighted the importance of injury prevention and took students through various drills.
He said many fighters made the mistake of attacking when they were ''square on'', and some keys to winning were grabbing the centre of the cage and ''owning it''.
New Zealand Fight and Fitness Academy director and Gracie Humaita NZ coach Ryan Henry said being able to ''pick the brain'' of a fighter that competed at the top level was great for his MMA team.
''It also shows it is possible to get to the top of the sport from this side of the world,'' Henry said.
