A Launceston mixed martial arts gym has struck up an affiliation with one of Australia's best.
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Jake Matthews, who competes in the UFC, visited the state for weekend training sessions with MMA North, a gym run by Damon Upton-Greer and Cory Hearn.
The visit will not be the last, with several more planned in the next 12 months.
"Jake has been to Tasmania four or five times before and on one of those trips, he came down and ran a seminar that a couple of our trainers went to," Upton-Greer said.
"Alec, one of our trainers, contacted him and asked if he'd be interested in starting an MMA affiliation. We gave him the idea for it because he hadn't started doing it and he was very excited to.
"We can't believe how cool he's been about it, I can't speak highly enough about how professional and what a nice bloke he's been."
Matthews is the longest-serving Australian in the UFC, having had 16 fights since 2014 after compiling a record of 7-0 in Melbourne before the world's largest MMA production company came calling.
The 27-year-old's most recent bout was in June, earning a performance of the night honour as he knocked out Andre Fialho and he has a top-15 fight in his sights.
"The level of knowledge that he was able to pass on was unreal, I know I learned heaps," Upton-Greer said.
"It's good for not only the guys that train under us and the gym but ourselves as well, he's a guy for us to look up to and learn off as well."
A personal trainer, Upton-Greer starting working for Hearn's business - Cory Hearn Personal Training - five years ago.
Both having a fighting background, they always wanted to run an MMA gym but didn't have the facility.
That was until Hearn's gym was upgraded this year.
"We got on board with some other trainers from other gyms that decided that they wanted to start doing it with us and Cory had the facility built this year," Upton-Greer said.
"We started doing sessions in our old gym at the end of last year because people were just so keen but it was pretty cramped up.
"Now we've got this brand new wizz-bang gym, so it's going great guns at the moment."
Upton-Greer is the Legion Fightsports welterweight champion and has over 20 fights across MMA and Muai Thai under his belt, while MMA North's Brazilian jiu jitsu instructors Hearn, Alec Haas and Jeremy Carroll have all won state titles in the discipline.
They also have a boxing coach - 2015 Australian amateur champion Luke Blackwell.
"We just want to create a good environment that anyone from any walk of life can come into, it's a nice friendly atmosphere," Upton-Greer said.
"We want to look at training women, kids, anyone who wants to learn martial arts because it's a vehicle for improving your whole life, not just learning how to fight, there's more to it than that."
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