​Interview: Tyson Pedro Eats Thunder And Will Choke You Out

For a kid from Queensland via Western Sydney there is really nothing like walking into the Jackson Wink training arena for the first time.

"It's surreal 'cos you go in and you're walking past all these pictures," begins Tyson Pedro from his temporary home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

"One time I caught myself taking a moment just looking at all these pictures, walking past, through the hallways of champions, UFC fighters, belts at all different levels, and you sort of embrace it," he says.

Jackson Wink has served as the preparation hall for everyone from Andrei Arlovski, to Holly Holm, BJ Penn, and countless other lesser known though no less ambitious fighters. Tyson is there to prepare for his upcoming blockbuster on March 4th against the undefeated Scotsman, Paul Craig (9-0) in UFC 209. It will be held at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, a city Tyson has never been to though which he has heard a lot about.

"I'm glad I'm going there for the first time for a fight. Otherwise it sounds like it'd be a bad place for me," he laughs.

The fight marks the highpoint of an extraordinary journey for Tyson and his father, John, who is widely credited as the man who brought Mixed Martial Arts to Australia. Tyson remembers the bad old days of the sport in his homeland, when his father would have to build the cages himself to fight in, and at other times tear them down because it was still illegal.

"I remember one time dad wasn't allowed to have an actual cage fight so he just took the cage walls off the side of the cage and they fought on top of the floor of the cage. It's stuff like that you look back on and go wow," he says, adding, "I still think Australia is sort of in its infancy at the moment (in MMA), even with crowds in comparison to the rest of the world."

His father was a tough disciplinarian and Tyson doesn't necessarily look back fondly on his introduction to martial arts, though he definitely credits it with turning him into the man he is today.

"Early on, thinking back on it, it was just a bad memory. I remember thinking how much it hurt with dad 'enforcing' the karate styles on me - that's the best way to say it," he laughs.

When everyone went home, Tyson was kept behind to do an extra 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups and 100-squats, "and I just always thought that Dad was really hard on me," he says.

"But, looking back on it, it was always trying to build what has come today. When you're a kid you don't really understand. But now at this level you go, 'okay so there was a method to his madness.'"

As a teenager, Tyson, who is of Samoan descent, was a talented rugby league and rugby union player. For a period he tried to fight and play football concurrently, but that ended after he suffered a horrific dislocation to his ankle and spiral fracture to his fibula in a tackle gone wrong. The injury would require three surgeries to repair and sit him down for a full 12 months.

He has bounced back spectacularly racing to a 5-0 record including his last start victory over American southpaw power-puncher, Khalil Rountree, at UFC Fight Night 101 in Melbourne last November.

That fight was exceptional on two counts. The first being that Tyson accepted it with only two weeks notice, leaving him with limited time to spar with stand-up opponents and no time to train with a southpaw. It showed when he ate a thunderous left from Rountree within the first minute, the blow sending him to the canvas in what would have ended most fighter's nights. But he didn't come this far to cough up his shot that easily. Tyson fought back immediately and three minutes later executed a slick rear-naked choke for the win by submission.

If there's one thing for sure about his upcoming fight it's that he won't be going in underdone. While at Jackson Wink he's been fortunate enough to cross paths with the likes of former UFC Heavyweight Champion, Andrei Arlovski, along with countless lesser known though no less hungry fighters. The dividends have been immediate and obvious, he says.

"For me the biggest difference has been the coaching and the little things… A lot of the transitions and small movements and increasing power," he says.

That said, he has not been overawed by the occasion. He feels like he belongs at Jackson Wink.

"I really pride myself on being really hard on myself physically and mentally. There's points where I've gone okay I really like this about this camp. It's been enough for me to come back for sure," he said.

If all goes to plan on March 5th Australian MMA could have the beginnings of a bona fide superstar not to mention its first ever family dynasty in the sport. To get him there, Tyson will be relying on the fierce perfectionist streak his father has drummed into him for as long as he can remember.

"It's always been a journey (of) always trying to find perfection as a martial artist…and my dad he was a perfectionist with me as well, and I sorta carried it onto myself," he says.

"I think that's why I made the move over here, just to travel, and try to find the best coaches, and the best teams, and just to make the best version of myself," he says.