TYSON Pedro has always believed in the old adage “ask and you shall receive”.

For the 25-year-old light heavyweight pleaded for the chance to fight at UFC Melbourne.

And soon enough, he was granted his wish.

Pedro, who is born and raised in western Sydney, become the second fighter from Lions High Performance Centre to be elevated to the UFC ranks in the past week.

He follows in the footsteps of devastating heavyweight Tai Tuisava, who earnt a four-fight contract with the promotion on the back of his title defence at Australian Fighting Championships 17 last month.

Pedro also won at AFC 17, submitting respected New Zealand warhorse Steven Warby.

It was post fight when he called on UFC president Dana White to add him to the card at Rod Laver Arena on November 27.

media_camera Pedro is a fearsome sight, even in training. Picture: Tim Hunter

“They’ve got a show in November and if someone pulls out at light heavyweight, I’m there,” Pedro said on October 15.

“I’ve been training hard and I’m ready to go Dana.”

Less than a week ago, as fate would have it, former middleweight champion Luke Rockhold was force to withdraw from his main event slot against Ronaldo Souza, forcing the UFC to promote Sydney superstar Robert Whittaker’s bout with American Derek Brunson to the prime time slot and go in search of another fight.

Enter Pedro, who has a 4-0 professional record.

“I can’t even explain it... I was shaking for a good two hours when it happened,” Pedro said of the call from his manager Zen Ginnen.

“I can’t even put it into words how I first felt. I’m still in disbelief.”

The conversation quickly shifted to his first opponent, American Khalil Rountree.

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Rountree is a southpaw with “freakish” power and a 5-1 record.

Pedro is also a freak of nature, according to his coach Shaun Sullivan, whose gym is gaining a reputation as one of Australia’s best.

“Everyone talks about how he’s freakishly talented and his athletic ability, but I think his strongest trait is his mental strength,” Sullivan said of Pedro.

“He sets the bar in everything, whether it’s our cardio sprints, wrestling, jiu jitsu... he does a proper warm up by himself before our team warm up and he’s always doing the one percent things and in sparring and fighting it’s the exact same thing.”

And Sullivan is convinced Pedro is destined for glory.

“He doesn’t want his greatest achievement to just be making the UFC,” he said.

“This is just the start of the journey for Tyson. Being 25, his best years are ahead of him and there’s no limit to where he could go.”

Pedro said it was a “dream come true” to break into the UFC.

“I’ve been doing this my whole life,” he said.

media_camera Pedro sets the standard at his gym in Alexandria. Picture: Tim Hunter

“I’ve been training with my dad for 17 years and he had the first cage fight in Australia and I’ve always watched these guys since I was a young kid, so to now live that dream... it’s amazing.”

His dad, John Pedro, was a high calibre fighter in his own right.

John was one of the original exponents of MMA in Australia, beginning his career in the era of “Vale Tudo”, which is the Portuguese pronunciation for full combat sport with “few” rules.

John, 50, taught MMA in his garage long before it became “popular” and was former UFC star James Te Huna’s first coach.

“He originally fought out of America and he has seven black belts in seven different styles,” Pedro said.

“I started training in Japanese kenpo Karate when I was a young kid, eventually I started amateur boxing and then I started jiu jitsu and moved in MMA.

“I trained with Brad Morris and James Te Huna and that was all through dad.”

Pedro shot to prominence in the wake of his his most recent victory, which he believes forced the UFC to stand up and take notice.

“Absolutely,” Pedro said.

“Steven Warby was 7-1 and hadn’t been stopped, he was a big jump (in competition) and I beat him in the first round,” Pedro said.

“I hadn’t been noticed much before that and that at least put me in their sights.”

And Pedro is ready to take another significant leap.

“It would be like the difference between high jump and pole vaulting,” he said.

“I’ve gone from the AFC, which is the biggest national show, to the UFC, which is the biggest international show. That’s the biggest jump, I think.”

And despite taking the fight on less than three week’s notice, the gifted striker doesn’t see it was a disadvantage.

“I love it,” Pedro said.

“I went from having one fight in four years to four fights in six months and every fight has been challenging and what’s more challenging than fighting on the biggest show in the world? I’m excited.”