Fife star Connor Nugent hoping to make his mark on MMA

When asked what his tactics against Hodges will be in the contest of three, three-minute rounds, 29-year-old Nugent – who beat Brian Holloway in Dunfermline last November before losing to in Pauroy Sanabra in Newcastle this April in his first two MMA fights – said: “He has got quite an experienced boxing background but I think this is his first MMA fight and this will be my third.

"With him being a boxer I’m assuming that his ground game will be weaker than mine. I’m not saying I’m amazing on the ground but I will be more well versed on the ground than he is, more than likely.

"So I think my grappling will make the difference in the fight but also my Muay Thai because I have trained in that for a long time.

"I don’t think it will be an easy fight so it will be good to get the result I’m wanting.

"I hope to one day have a gym to pass on knowledge to future generations. I’d like to see how far I can go with the fighting as well because there are a lot of good amateurs getting signed to decent promotions at the moment in the UK.

“PFL and Cage Warriors are doing a lot of signing decent amateurs so it would be cool to be able to take it on full-time.”

A healthy Scottish contigent will back Nugent in Newcastle.

He said: "I’ll have good support because I’ve got a couple of tables – around 20 people including my girlfriend Phoebe – coming down to watch. It will put a bit of pressure on me but that’s good because I think that makes me perform better.

"It’s good I already have experience of fighting in Newcastle. Against Sanabra the fight didn’t get finished, it was just a decision loss.

"So it was good getting a good amount of ring time. Sanabra was a big strong boy, a lot bigger than me, but he didn’t manage to really get anything going. He just pinned me against the fence most of the time. It was kind of a bad loss for me because I didn’t really take any damage.

"Hopefully I can win the fight this weekend then challenge Sanabra again because I think I can beat him.”

Nugent, a Goliath MMA (Rosyth) gym member who works as a skilled labourer with Fife Council, is in his second year doing MMA but he previously trained in Muay Thai for five years and he also did jiu-jitsu, winning gold medals.

A busy upcoming schedule for the man who revealed that he trains six days a week “pretty much all year round” will include contesting jiu-jitsu’s Edinburgh Open on September 7, before he is also in action against Richie Walsh at the British Fighting Championships in Middlesbrough Sports Village on September 21.

"The Edinburgh Open event is under an umbrella body called Scottish Grappling,” he added.

“The last time I did that at the Scottish Cup I got silver, only missing out on gold by two points so I was quite gutted.

"So I’m hoping to get gold this time.

"At the British Fighting Championships I’m fighting a guy who has won the British Open at blue belt in jiu-jitsu, but I’m fighting him at MMA so that will be a good one.

"Then I’ll be taking a well needed break!”

MMA is recognised as being one of the toughest disciplines in all of sport and Nugent, who stands 6ft 1 tall and weighs 125kg, admitted the build-up to fights can get very tense.

He added: “It’s quite scary when you’re getting ready to go out and waiting for your song to play.

"But I feel once you go out there and see your missus and all your mates, you start to become a bit more confident the closer you get to the fight.

"I’m very undecided with the song I want to choose for this Saturday.”