Ask Kiwi mixed martial arts fighters or trainers which locals loom as breakout candidates and one name pops up more than most - Kieran 'The Stonecutter' Joblin.
Christchurch-based Joblin is a veteran of the New Zealand and Australia scene. He's been a fixture at local events from South Island recreation centres to the backblocks of Melbourne since 2009, racking up titles, as he chases that elusive golden ticket - a multi-fight deal with a promotional heavyweight.
Now, the 30-year-old is on the brink of securing his long-term future with burgeoning ONE Championship - Asia's largest sporting league that's now home to some of martial arts' biggest names.
After booking a ticket to Sydney to take part in a trial for ONE's 'Warrior Series' - a feeder league run by executive and UFC Hall-of-Famer Rich Franklin - Joblin was hand-picked to head to Singapore and further show his wares. That gamble has well and truly paid off.
"It felt like winning the Lotto," Joblin told Newshub." Then it was the same when I got my first bout agreement.
"I've been grinding away for a while, so it's great to get a chance to be part of a big promotion. I've just been waiting for my chance to show everyone, really."
His debut provided concrete proof that he belonged on the big stage - a three-round mauling of Josh Hardwick that made an undeniable statement.
That resulted in a new fight agreement to take part in June's Warrior Series, a significant step closer to his dream of a life committed to full-time training and a luxury that would clearly be transformative for his career prospects.
For as much grinding as Joblin has done on the fight scene, he's done just as much in his day job. 'Stonecutter' by name, stonecutter by nature.
"That's how I pay the bills - cutting stone, building stone walls.
"I work a 30-hour week, train a couple of mornings in strength and conditioning, then just train every night, finishing work and hitting the gym, doing pads or wrestling drills."
All of that, on top of juggling life as a father to two young boys, lends some perspective to the challenges involved in cracking the next tier of professional fighting, where timing - being on the right card at the right moment - is almost as important as the knockouts themselves.
But combat sports athletes typically only hit their primes around their 30s and the best is yet to come from Joblin.
Natural talent can only take you so far and Joblin admits he leaned too heavily on that for a fair chunk of his career to date, overlooking the importance of arguably the most critical element of a fighter's make-up.
"I think it takes a while for your mental side to really come out. I got away with not really working on it for a while - just relying on luck and talent, but not so much actual mental work - to get by.
"Then you start fighting better guys, who are mentally stronger than you. You’ve got to work on it yourself, I guess, to catch up.
"I've been doing it for so long that now my mind doesn’t go all over the place."
Reading, studying, talking to mentors - they've all helped Joblin add the kind of polish to his mind that he's applying to the physical side of his game, adding tools to ensure he makes the most of his shot at the next level.
"I'm really big on visualising what I'm going to do now. If I've got a fight in eight weeks, I'll be thinking about how I'm going to win it eight weeks out, every day in the shower - visualising my opponent doing whatever it is that he's good at and how I'm going to change it to suit me better.
"Once you get in there, you've already visualised it 100 times and it just comes to you naturally. Before, I'd just wing it, but now I take that stuff more seriously."
With a balanced dose of submission and knockout finishes among his 22 wins - most as a product of his suffocating ground-and-pound game - Joblin's new focus is on combining his strengths into a more fluid package, building on the base of athleticism, striking accuracy and smarts that have been the foundation of his success to date.
"I'm trying to be much more technical with the wrestling, technical with the striking, and making everything nice and polished with no seams in my game. Everything flows to the next."
Joblin has watched while many of his NZ-based contemporaries - including UFC interim middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and lightweight Dan Hooker - achieve global success, providing a healthy dose of inspiration and proof that Kiwi hopefuls no longer need to venture offshore to find world-class tuition.
In addition to his regular bases at Ōtautahi Lost Boys MMA and South Island Lee Gar Kickboxing in Christchurch, Joblin heads north to spend a week of each fight camp with the world-class talent at City Kickboxing, where he claims the training sessions are in a league of their own.
"We've got a world class gym in NZ now - there's no need to travel overseas and train. We've got some of the best guys around just a flight up to Auckland away.
"I always try to make the most of that. NZ is just miles ahead of a lot of the others at the moment, I reckon.
"You get the hardest workout there [at City Kickboxing]."
Joblin spearheads a group of rising Kiwis, including Auckland MMA's Viet Anh Do, Bali-based Punya Sai and Nyrene Crowley, and Joey Baylon, who are banging down the door for a ONE Championship roster spot via the Warriors Series.
He'd join compatriot and perennial contender Ev Ting on a star-studded lightweight roster that also features former UFC champion Eddie Alvarez and Japanese grappling legend Shinya Aoki.
"It's probably their strongest division. There are some big names in there, but I'm keen to give it a crack."
It's a testament to Joblin's perseverance that he's reached this far, but now it's really time to - just to max out the analogy - put the axe to the grindstone. Rejuvenated and filled with purpose, there's definitely plenty left in the tank.
"I want to have a long career and fight well into my 30s. It's good having something to strive towards and better myself, instead of just going through the motions of life.
"This 'ONE' opportunity has been a blessing, something to focus on and work towards."
Soon enough, all going to plan, he'll no longer need to submit a leave request for training camp.
Newshub.
