Ultimate Fighting Championship to feature Newfoundland fighter

A mixed martial arts fighter from Newfoundland and Labrador is about to step into the ring at the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in Vancouver.

It's a big step for 34-year-old Ryan Janes who was 25 before he even started working out after moving to Victoria, B.C.

It was at the gym that his coach today spotted him and asked if he had thought about fighting professionally.

"And I was like, 'Are you kidding me?'' he told CBC News. "I was the nerd in high school. There's no way that I'm built to be a professional in anything, at any sport."

"And he said, 'Well, I think you'd be good at it.' So yeah, it's funny."

His coach was right. Over the past eight years, Janes has had nine pro fights, with only one loss and eight wins, seven of those by submission.

Slow climb to the heights of MMA

"It's actually been a really slow progression. It was hard for me to get fights," Janes said. "People weren't really willing to fly a lot of us out to Alberta where a lot of the fights were happening in Canada."

"So I struggled even just to get fights and get that experience."​

Janes's climb through the ranks may have been slow, but now that he has captured the attention of the UFC — the biggest MMA circuit in the world — he plans to take advantage of the opportunity.

"This is going to be so cliché, but it is hard to look beyond this fight. This is what's in front of me, just like the rest of my career," he said. "My aim, yeah, is to win. My aim is to keep winning and I will keep doing it."

Janes has just signed a four-fight contract with the UFC, and hopes it will lead to something bigger.

"Hopefully, I will be the best in the world, but right now I'm just some dude on the undercard. So yes, hopefully I can get there. This is really cool now, but I just want to keep moving forward and keep winning."

Credits work ethic with his success

Janes said he is not the most naturally gifted athlete, but what he lacks in that department he makes up with his work ethic. He said he's the hardest working member at his gym when he has to be.

And while the the six-foot-two-inch, 90-kg fighter might have left here for B.C. a decade ago to find work, he says his roots play a big role in his success as a fighter. He was born in Grand Falls-Windsor and raised in Mount Pearl, and still calls Newfoundland home.

Newfoundland has made me who I am.- Ryan Janes, MMA fighter

"I've been here that long now that I can't say that anymore, but it means a lot. Newfoundland has made me who I am."

Janes's first UFC fight gets underway August 27, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. He will fight another UFC newcomer, Adam Hunter of New Brunswick.