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Australia’s Tyson Pedro has spent $50,000 in just four weeks as he prepares to show out in Las Vegas only hours before the NRL season launch – and for a crowd set to include several league greats, including Paul Gallen.
Fresh off a stint on the resurrected Australian Gladiators TV series, 32-year-old Pedro is now switching back to the Octagon and a showdown against undefeated Brazilian light heavyweight Vitor Petrino.
Set to fight inside the UFC Apex this Saturday evening — or Sunday morning AEDT for Australian viewers — the bout will take place only hours before the NRL kicks off at nearby Allegiant Stadium.
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Speaking with Fox Sports Australia this week, Pedro revealed that, despite taking the fight on four weeks notice, he has still spent the best part of $50,000 to prepare at Auckland’s famed City Kickboxing Gym — home to fighters like Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker and, at times, Australia’s own Alexander Volkanovski.
Elsewhere, the popular western Sydney product has also confirmed Gallen will be at the fight, Aussie UFC legend James Te Huna will be in his corner, and that “something big” will be announced in the days, or even hours, after a card also featuring breakout West Australian flyweight Steve Erceg.
Asked if said announcement was something like his ‘Dragon’ role in Gladiators, Pedro replied: “Bigger.
“Life changing, too.
“It will all make sense after this fight.”
And as for fighting on the same weekend as the NRL in Las Vegas?
“Brother, it’s been crazy,” the hardcore Penrith fan continued.
“There’s people everywhere and I think they have a group of us doing some media together here on Wednesday.
“I’ve also had Paul Gallen message me to say he is coming to the fight. I saw Daly Cherry-Evans the other day, too.
“The whole Manly squad actually came into the UFC Performance Institute while I was training there.
“It was funny because one of their guys, he comes in saying ‘OK, I’m going to teach you all about rugby league … it’s football, no shoulder pads’ all this other stuff.
“I just smiled and said ‘brother, I’m from Sydney … up the Panthers’.”
Hugely popular among the NRL crowd, Pedro has already been invited to the NRL double-header, taking place less than 8km from his own event.
But as for attending?
“I haven’t thought about anything past my fight,” he stressed.
“It’s a mindset I have with a lot of things now.
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“Like today my mate asked ‘hey, what are we doing for dinner?’ I just said I was only thinking about my training session at three o’clock.
“It’s something my wife hates, because I am never planned for anything.
“But when you’re over training at City Kick Boxing, when you’re there in so much pain, you don’t want to be thinking about how there are four more sessions that day.
“You just want to get through the 30 minutes you’re in.
“And I think that’s been a big part of my growth.”
Same deal CKB itself.
Which is why after accepting the Petrino fight on short notice, Pedro was within days jetting across the ditch to the famed fight factory.
Yet the fighter also reveals that commitment, which includes flights, accommodation, food, rental car, trainers, specialist appointments, then early arrival into the US for him and his crew, has meant a spend of 50 large.
“Which is crazy,” he conceded.
“Obviously, it would be easier for me to stay at home.
“Much cheaper too.
“But CKB is where I’m at my best.
“So that’s what you do.
“When I signed for this fight, it was a Saturday. By the following Tuesday, I was in NZ.
“I’ve just always been somebody who searches out the best training.
“I remember my first three camps, I was in the red because I went all the way over to train at Jackson Wink (MMA Academy) in New Mexico.
“I was making $20 grand and camps were costing twice that.
“But it’s a choice and I’m definitely not complaining.”
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Undoubtedly, Sunday’s fight against Petrino shapes as one of the toughest, and most important, ever for Pedro.
Apart from being on a tear of 10 straight wins, the Brazilian’s list of scalps also includes Modestas Bukauskas – who himself scored a surprise win over Pedro at UFC 284 in Perth early last year.
Yet with the Aussie having also won three of his past four Octagon appearances – and also boasting a resume that includes wins over Paul Craig and Khalil Rountree Jnr – he is now pushing for a big finish this Sunday.
Asked what he knew of Petrino before accepting the Las Vegas showdown, Pedro grinned: “I actually agreed to fight before watching him.
“But I knew he beat Modestas, who I lost to last year when I was sick. So I knew this was now going to become part of my story.
“Get that loss back.
“And the guy has actually called me out before, too. So I just said ‘OK, let’s go’.”
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Elsewhere, Pedro will also have a genuine Aussie fight OG in his corner, with retired UFC light heavyweight Te Huna, who now assists reigning premier Penrith as a wrestling coach, joining Pedro’s head coach Eugene Bareman and dad, John.
Asked if switching between Gladiator and UFC fighter had required any specific physical overhauls, Pedro continued: “I was actually lighter for the (television) role.
“I then put some weight back on going into that New Zealand camp because, at times, I have gotten lighter over there. Just because of how strenuous camp is.
“And all the stuff on the show, I was fairly capable.
“Using the rings, that was heavier on the joints.
“But otherwise it was seamless.”
And surely you chose the Dragon moniker, right?
“No, they did,” laughs the man who carries Japanese tattoos, was practicing Kempo and Japanese jiu jitsu by age four, and has long considered his alter ego to be Ronin, a wandering Japanese samurai.
“So it really is crazy, because the name fits me so perfectly.
“And now, of course, we’re in the Chinese year of the Dragon too.
“So everything seems to be lining up perfectly.”
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