Martial Arts: It's kill or be killed, says Digby

Dan 'The Gravedigger' Digby on his way to victory against fellow Bay fighter Pane Haraki last year. Photo / File

It's fair to say family comes first for Hawke's Bay mixed martial arts exponent Dan "The Gravedigger" Digby these days.

But that doesn't mean he has lost the high confidence levels he had when fighting was his priority.

"I'm going up there to hurt him before he hurts me. I'm going there for a good time not a long time," Digby said as he pondered his fight against Tauranga's Kelvin "Crazy Horse" Joseph, which will be the feature bout at a Shuriken Show at the North Shore Events Centre on Saturday night.

The pair will fight for a vacant middleweight title. Digby, 32, who holds one national welterweight title, two middleweight titles and one light heavyweight title, has yet to find out whether it will be a three or five-round contest.

"It doesn't worry me either way. You're either going to kill or be killed at this level," Digby, who boasts an 18-win-5-loss record, said. Digby has heard Joseph, 38, who is also a trainer like Digby, has won his last three welterweight fights but will be stepping up to the under-84kg middleweight division. Digby has to drop 2kg before the weigh-in.

"That's not a problem ... it's just a case of having a haircut and going to the toilet," Digby said.

"I used to be a bit lighter when I was training all the time, having six or seven fights a year and having lots of supplements in my diet. These days there are no supplements because I want my son to eat well," he said referring to his and partner Rochelle's 15-month-old son Konrad.

When Konrad was born last year, Digby decided to postpone a $4000 return trip he had won the previous year to compete in the United States Grapplers Quest. It was his prize for winning the open men's absolute division at the New Zealand Grappling Championships.

"With Konrad a bit older now I'm going to use that trip later this year to attend an American Top Team Training Camp in Florida. We're going to be there for a couple of weeks and hopefully I get the chance to fight after the camp.

"I didn't want to leave Konrad when he was three months old but it will be bit easier later in the year. I'll be one of six Kiwi fighters going ... my Auckland-based coach Steve Oliver, who is an American Top Team New Zealand contact, organised it," Digby explained.

He got a taste of what he can expect in Florida when he and his Hawke's Bay training partner Gareth Burke and some of the country's other top fighters were invited to an Auckland-hosted training camp last month. It included a navy mud run.

"It was good ... ideal as part of the preparation for this week's fight. I heard Kelvin got his nickname for his kicks so I'll be doing my best to get him on the ground as soon as possible so he can't kick," the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt holder Digby said.

His Orphans Gym fighters are based at The Lab Health and Fitness Centre in Napier.

"I don't have to worry about the business side of things now as Patrick [O'Brien] does that. I can just focus on training and fighting, which is ideal. Because we are part of American Top Team New Zealand it's good to have the best facilities in the Bay to fight out of, and we're getting fighters who were unable to travel over to our Hastings gym in the past," Digby added.