"I'll never forget it": Sullivan's brush with UFC gold

And Mulwaree Muay Thai head instructor, Darcy Sullivan, got the chance to learn from one of the best in the business late last year.

Sullivan, who has spent most of the last 12 months training out of Storm MMA in Canberra, participated in a seminar at the gym featuring Alexander Volkanovski, the current UFC featherweight champion.

"To have the champion of the world come to your gym is pretty incredible," Sullivan said.

"They absolutely packed the place out, I've never seen so many people in the gym there before."

During the seminar, Volkanovski ran through a number of things he focuses on in his own training program.

This included such topics as movement, striking, fight preparation, and nutrition.

While Sullivan was fascinated from his perspective as a fighter, he said much of the information would inform his work training others.

"As a coach, there was so much good information," he said.

"He talked a lot about how disciplined you've got to be. It's not about what you do when fighting, but all the stuff outside of the cage including exercise science and physio. It was a lot of helpful stuff that I hadn't thought about before.

"All the little things add up, everything makes up a percentage of your preparation. So, going to the physio, that's one per cent, working on your diet that week, that's one per cent. There's so much to it."

The Wollongong-based champion was joined at the seminar by his coach, Joe Lopez, and the two spent time throughout the seminar both getting to know the students and talking about their technique.

Sullivan said that Volkanovski himself was "very friendly and approachable", but said what surprised him most was his stature.

"I knew that he was my weight class, so I wanted to see how I size up against him," he said.

"I was a bit taller than him, but I was absolutely shocked at how stocky he was. I can just imagine going up against him, how hard it would be to hurt him, let alone stop him."

During his UFC career, Volkanovski has become renowned for his toughness and physical fitness. Prior to undertaking mixed martial arts, Volkanovski weighed 97kg (the UFC featherweight limit is just shy of 66) and played as a forward for the Warilla Gorillas in the South Coast Rugby League competition.

"One of the things that he said made him the best was his focus on fitness," Sullivan said.

"He said if you're fit, that's one thing you don't have to worry about going into a fight, and that was clear just from looking at him."

The experience of meeting Volkanovski was "unreal", Sullivan said, and will surely influence the way he approaches both fighting and coaching in the future.

"I'll never forget it," he said.

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