Aiming to create next UFC star Perth martial arts gym offers one-year MMA scholarship

In a bid to create Australia’s next Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star the Wolves Den martial arts gym in the Perth suburb of Joondalup is offering a one-year scholarship for an aspiring mixed martial arts fighter.

Inspired by a similar scheme offered in Phuket in Thailand at the famous Tiger Muay Thai gym, Wolves Den gym owner Steve Walton, who is also Australia's national coach for the Global Association of Mixed Martial Arts (GAMMA) World MMA Championships, ran the program in January.

Walton explained “we're putting them through their paces, seeing who has the passion and drive to push through these workouts to see who has the potential to get to where we need them to be.

"After COVID, everyone was really struggling with money so we thought it’d be a good idea to start this now.

"What I'm saying to guys and girls is that I'm not looking for any high-level skills during the tryout, I need to see the passion and drive and some sort of ability that we can build on.

"I can teach the skills in the gym and I can train them up to be a lot fitter than they are, but we need to know that they’re not going to give up."

Walton will look to produce the next great name in MMA, following the footsteps of UFC welterweight Jack Della Maddalena, winner of all three of his fights in the top series for MMA in the world, last year.

Della Maddalena trained in another of Perth's suburbs, Willetton, before becoming a professional athlete.

He is set to fight for the fourth time under the UFC banner on home soil, at UFC 284 at the Perth Arena on 12th February.

The scholarship is worth $1,700.

Image: Fighters at the Wolves Den gym. Credit: Wolves Den/Facebook.