MMA champion Alberto Mina is ready for his fight with Shinsho Anzai
As MMA champion Alberto Mina braces for the biggest fight of his life, he tells Kylie Knott how he stays in top shape
Alberto Mina knows what it's like to push the mind and body to the limit. The 32-year-old Brazilian-born, Hong Kong-based MMA fighter has been practising martial arts since he was five, "initially in judo then Brazilian jiu-jitsu when I was about 12".
By the time he was 21, Mina had black belts in both disciplines. But he was still hungry for more.
"I wanted a new challenge, and that's how MMA came into my life. Being a fighter is like being any other pro athlete - you have to live a disciplined and controlled life, which suits my personality," he says from London, where he's undergoing intensive training ahead of his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) showdown with Japan's Shinsho Anzai in Macau on Saturday.
The fight at the Cotai Arena will be the biggest of Mina's life, a milestone he should have reached in March when he was scheduled to become Hong Kong's first fighter to compete in the UFC. Mina was pumped and ready for battle at the Venetian Macao but his opponent, American Zak Cummings, failed to make the weight.
Left frustrated but not beaten, Mina turned his focus to this weekend's bout and he's ready for redemption.
"Yeah, I'm nervous but I haven't met anyone who's not nervous before a fight. I'm in an alert state but the years of training also bring a calmness to this process. When the bell rings, everything fades."