Ross Pearson's Dream...to Fight On The UFC

The first six weeks were all based around heavy, power explosion work with my strength and conditioning coaches. I also did a lot of boxing and wrestling drills. My boxing has been more technical ahead of this fight as my UFC 105 opponent (Aaron Riley) is a southpaw and that requires slight technical adjustments. It's a lot trickier fighting a southpaw opponent, as opposed to an orthodox guy.

We're now in the last five weeks of training and this is where my conditioning work steps up to the next level and my sparring gets even more intense. This is where I start to feel the benefits of the previous six weeks. My endurance is through the roof at the moment and I'm feeling fitter already than I've ever felt before.

Getting in shape and staying in shape has never really been a problem for me. I see myself as a dedicated, full-time athlete and I live accordingly. I'm not like Ricky Hatton, who might go on a big drinking and eating binge after a fight and then battle to get the weight off again. I usually have a week of two off after a fight and then I'm straight back into constant training. My body feels all the better for it. I've been in the gym enjoying everything I do and, because the camp has been so long, it's allowed time for plenty of variation and planning.

The dangers of a long camp are well known to people in the fight game. You can often get caught up in over-training or peak too early before a fight. That was a slight concern with me, simply because I like to go all-out in training and do everything at 100 miles per hour. To conquer this we basically monitored and logged all my hours of training and kept an eye on the point where I could be liable to over-train. I've often wanted to do more boxing training and more strength and conditioning, but my coaches have just turned around and said, 'no Ross, you're not doing anymore'. I've got good people keeping an eye on me and I trust their judgement.

To be honest, last weekend was the first time I've had a full weekend off training since we started camp. I took that weekend off simply because I was getting too fit too fast and was basically peaking at the wrong time. I could sense that and knew I needed to take a couple of days off. I was almost getting too eager to fight.

Since taking the weekend off, my body has felt much better for it. I've been firing on all cylinders this week and I wish the fight was tomorrow.

One of the joys of being part of the UFC is that there is now a lot more attention on me in camp and more time to prepare myself. My training camp is now much more focused on me, whereas in the past I was just part of a big team.

In the past I would have been helping other guys get ready and would have been used as a sparring partner. Now we're dealing with the UFC, I need my coaches there for me and nobody else. I'm doing a lot more one-on-one work with my coaches than I've ever done before. I'm also doing a lot of sparring at the Rough House gym in Nottingham, which is the best MMA gym in the UK right now.

I sometimes watch the early UFC events in between training sessions and it's crazy to think I'm now a part of this thing. I'm no longer just a fan of the UFC; I'm one of the competitors. I'm anxious, nervous and excited to finally get this chance. It is everything I've ever worked towards in my life and on November 14 I'll finally get my chance to do it. This is just the start of my journey...

Last tickets for UFC 105 are available now from ticketmaster.co.uk