He's spent over 12 months on the sidelines but on Saturday at Melbourne's Altona North, Charlie Bubb will finally return to action.
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The 23-year-old will compete in an eight-man K1 elimination bracket where his goal will be to outlast three opponents in one night before securing a $20,000 prize.
Even though he ranks third among active muay thai fighters, this weekend's challenge will be kick boxing as he's happy to mix up the disciplines if it means he can get more fights in.
It's a huge opportunity for the Razor Muay Thai fighter but what's even more jaw-dropping is the schedule he's taken on over the last year.
Some of you might not know that in addition to being one of the best strikers on the planet, Bubb is a fourth-year carpentry apprentice.
That means that for five or six days a week for the last three months Bubb has been setting his alarm for 4.30am to hit the pads at the gym, before throwing his steel caps on.
It doesn't end there though. When he knocks off work, whether that be at Orange, Molong, or somewhere else around the Central West, he returns to the gym for a night session, capping off a gruelling 16-hour day.
He's done this every single day for his entire training camp... all in the pursuit to be the best, because that's what it really comes down to.
Just talking to Bubb, you can tell he's not going to stop until he's done everything in his power to reach the pinnacle of combat sports.
He might have a self-confessed love for elbows but after Saturday's kick boxing event, Bubb's looking to book a boxing match and hasn't ruled out a mixed martial arts switch down the track. After all, that's where the big money is.
"I originally dismissed the idea of MMA but after training with Rob Whittaker and his team at Sydney, it's something that's on the cards for me," Bubb said.
"I guess we'll see what doors open up and what kind of fights I can get rolling in. Hopefully one day I can do this for a career but first I need everything to go back to normal."
Whittaker is one of the few Australians who has made genuine waves on the international MMA scene. More specifically, the UFC.
The former middleweight champion has only lost once inside the Octagon since 2014, that coming at the hands of Israel Adesanya in 2019, the man who still holds the belt today.
Based on Whittaker's high-level striking background, specifically karate, there's no surprise Bubb took an interest in his path to the UFC after spending some time in the cage with him.
But enough about MMA, boxing, or anything else for that matter, Bubb's focus this week is simple - have his hand raised three times on Saturday and return to Orange $20,000 richer.
"A lot of people have said that I'm the favourite to win this tournament, but I haven't overlooked anyone," he said.
"The fights are drawn randomly so I don't even know who I'll be coming up against. These kinds of tournaments are unpredictable and there's only three three-minute rounds, not like in muay thai where there's five rounds."
So, for the average Joe's sake, what does that mean?
Basically, he can't afford to much around. One slack round or a misguided judge could easily result in elimination, so Bubb basically needs to go in all guns blazing from the first bell.
"I want to make my opponents look like they don't belong in there with me," he said.
I want to make my opponents look like they don't belong in there with me.
- Charlie Bubb.
"I want to frustrate them and usually that creates openings. I like to out-cardio my opponent."
In a perfect world, Saturday night's event would be substituted for a muay thai fight against an internationally-ranked opponent, but due to ongoing travel restrictions he's had to settle for events like this.
"We need the international circuit to open back up," he said.
"In Australia, I've beaten everybody they've put in front of me.
"I've only lost once in the last four-five years and that was against Toby Smith and he's taken some time off now."
Bubb's impressive enough as a fighter but his passion outside the ring can't be forgotten either.
If he reigns supreme at Melbourne on Saturday we're pretty likely to get some more insight into another one of his passions, promoting men's mental health and suicide prevention. He's been outspoken about the topic his entire career.
"I'm just trying to help get the message out there that we all need to look after ourselves and each other," he said in a previous interview.
Prince Promotions will run the fight night as the full event will be live-streamed.
The seven other fighters competing in the event are Nasar Kassab, Daniel Barber, Nick Trask, Huss Al Mansouri, Nathan Robson, Sarmad Jahanara, and Cody Jameson.
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