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Brett Johns is quickly becoming a bona fide trailblazer in the world of combat sports.

With two world titles, 15 victories and one of the rarest submission wins in UFC history under his belt, the 26-year-old has established himself as a serious contender in professional mixed martial arts.

But the journey to success for this proud Welshman hasn't come without its challenges, and he's had to navigate his fair share of speed bumps on the way to the top of premiership fighting.

Watch as Johns talks about his UFC journey and shows us how to do a calf-slicer:

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Born and raised in the small village of Pontarddulais , near Llanelli, Johns was sent to an all-Welsh-speaking school by his mother, who, as a single parent, did everything for him, his older sister and younger brother.

A schoolboy lacking in self-confidence, the judo club soon became the centre of Johns' universe. He could never stay away for more than a week.

"I started Judo when I was four years old - my mother was a single parent at the time, living in Pontarddulais looking and after the three kids," Johns said.

"My sister started doing judo and me and my brother were causing riots in the house, fighting each other. So, my mother thought it would be a good idea to take us two there aswell.

"We were really young, my brother was four and I was three. But, I've never really looked back since and I think that's were my martial arts career really took off."

(Image: Adrian White)

It wasn't long before Johns' mother met his soon-to-be step-father.

Despite suffering serious health issues, there is no question that the former Sensei at Pontarddulais Judo Club, inadvertently guided him onto the path of becoming a worldwide prizefighter.

"My step-dad has been through a lot. He had his leg amputated about 10 years ago and in 2016 he had a stoma bag put in because he suffers from diverticulitis," Johns said.

"Twice he's had major operations that could have killed him and he's still going.

"He's had a massive impact on me. Always has. He's my father and has been through everything with me.

"He wasn't too keen on me starting MMA. He didn't think it was for me, but he always says to me now: 'Well you've proved me wrong, now go and prove the rest of the world wrong.'

"He's always there. Even though all the travelling takes it out of him, he's an amazing person to have there.

"He's very good at getting into my head. I don't know what he does, but he says the right things to motivate me for a fight.

"When I see my dad in the crowd, it gives me a massive push."

Watch the touching moment Johns breaks down in tears after finding out about UFC signing:

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By his own admission, Johns was almost ready to give up on his dreams of becoming a professional fighter before getting the call to join UFC.

Living in an area where professional MMA was essentially unheard of at the time, it wasn't long before he began struggling financially.

"I left school without any A-Levels. I spent two years in sixth form - didn't get the results I wanted and went straight into work after that.

"I worked as a ground-worker for minimum wage. I was under 18 and earning £4.93 an hour.

"I worked in all sorts of weather - rain, sun, snow. I really used to hate my job, especially because the guys on site were getting nearly double what I was getting. I just felt like it wasn't for me.

"So, I remember my last day on site. It was a tough one. I remember bursting into tears walking into my foreman's office and said 'I can't do this anymore. I've got a passion for something and I'm wasting it here.'"

In March 2013, Johns quit his job, choosing instead to train as a full time martial artists.

Within months, he had fought on a number of shows and amassed an equal number of victories. But money was still tight and without a full-time income, Johns was surviving with barely a penny to his name.

(Image: MMA Wales/Tanabi Group) (Image: Huw Evans Agency)

"I'd won a world title, fought twice in one night and was left with peanuts - around £2,000.

"It was tough. To the point where I had to sell my car, live in the gym and couldn't afford a bus ticket to get home. They sound like sob stories, but it's been really tough, you know.

"If you were fighting for money in this game, I would have quit years ago. I had been at rock bottom for a few years.

"You only really get the money when you hit UFC and now I'm getting there. Don't get me wrong, I'm miles off where I want to be but I'm a lot more comfortable now."

Fighting at the UFC has been a life changing opportunity for Johns, who can now earn up to $80k (around £60k) per fight - a far stretch from the money he earned just a few years ago.

But despite being at the pinnacle of his career, it's not all high rolling and riches.

"My last fight was major. I ended up earning around $28k and because we won the bonus, we had $50k on top of that.

"We ended up walking out of there with around $85k.

(Image: Adrian White)

"People look at that and think 'Wow, that's life changing'. And it really is life-changing money, but there are little things that people don't undertsand.

"They think that money is mine, but it's not. It gets cut down by more than half really.

"I fought in Vegas and the tax laws there are around 30% and with the exchange rate and percentages to managers and coaches - I wasn't actually left with a lot of money.

"I was probably left with around $20k (around £15,000), and that was cut down from around $80k.

"But, from the first fight to the last fight, it has completely changed my life. It's been like a roller coaster - from top to bottom, bottom to top.

"We've had some bad times, like injuries and stuff, but we've had some really good things happen too."

Johns recalls one of the worst moments in his UFC career as being the moment his opponent at UFC Fight Night 107 in London, Ian Entwistle, pulled out from their expected bout at the last-minute.

After missing weight by three pounds, Entwistle was hospitalised per doctors orders, leaving Johns disappointed after a gruelling couple of months hard training.

"I felt brilliant going into that and the guy pulled out on me on the day of the fight. I was absolutely heartbroken.

"That was one of my worst moments, but one of my best memories probably has to be my first ever UFC fight - being announced as the winner.

"It's a privilege for me to wrap those UFC gloves around my hands. When you see those black leather gloves with UFC written across them, you know you're at the premiership for fighting and it's a privilege and an honour. "

It only took 30 seconds, but Johns had his big break in December last year, with his calf slicer submission of Joe Soto at The Ultimate Fighter 26 Finale.

Just the second time that leg lock has successfully been pulled off inside the Octagon, the move made huge waves on the internet and left Johns' name firmly on the lips of MMA journalists and commentators across the globe.

What is a calf slicer? The move is is a compression lock that involves pressing the calf muscle into one of the bones in the leg. Similarly to the biceps slicer, a leg slicer can be applied by inserting an arm or leg in the backside of the knee, and flexing the opponent's leg to apply pressure to the muscles surrounding the fulcrum. Generally, the direction of the shin in the leg acting as a fulcrum will determine where the larger part of the pressure will go. Such leg slicers can be used as effective leglocks to the knee through a separating and elongating motion. Similarly to the biceps slicer, the calf slicer is listed as a banned technique in the lower levels of some major Brazilian jiu-jitsu competitions

"It's a move that I tried to practise in training a few times and I might have pulled it off once or twice in camp, but nothing much. I didn't really concentrate on it.

"But we pulled it off and it blew the internet up. The second ever calf-slicer in UFC history and it was done by a Welshman."

So, what does it take to become a UFC fighter?

"Just consistency. A major thing for me is the training. I train three to four times a day, six days a week and it gets tough.

"As long as your consistency and determination is there, then you can go all the way.

"It's the same with any sport. If you put in all you can and you make all the necessary sacrifices, then you'll get to where you want to go."

What sort of training schedule does a fighter follow?

A fighter's training schedule is tough, especially when it comes to fight camp - the weeks leading up to a big fight.

Here, Johns - who is currently in fight camp ahead of his next UFC bout - talks us through his typical day in training.

"Well, I'll give you today for example. I woke up at 7.30am, to get to a class and do pads. I did an hour or so of pads.

"I come back, do a bit of grappling at about 11am. After that I'll have a few hours to spend some time with my girlfriend.

"At 6pm then, I'll train no-gi [grappling] and it depends really. I can do a bit of wall wrestling or go for a run."

What does a professional fighter eat?

Forget cake, chocolate and crisps - being a professional fighter often means cutting out a lot of life's luxuries.

According to Johns, some fighters may not eat anything in the days leading up to a fight, drinking only water and protein shakes to make weight.

"This is the hard bit of the whole camp really, I don't mind training all day, but the diet bit I find difficult.

"At the minute, I'm about 11kg overweight and I'm fighting in around seven and a half weeks.

"The weight-cutting side of the game is horrific. Like today, I've just had 150g grams of carbs and I'll try to drop the weight slowly."

But Brett says he rewards himself after each fight with his favourite dish - a cheesecake.

"I'm a sucker for cheesecake. I love a good vanilla cheesecake.

"I'll eat that after the fight.

"Every fight I've had in the UFC, I've gone to the nearest shop or market and bought a cheesecake for after the fight. It's like a ritual now."

Johns' next challenge

For his next challenge, Brett is gearing up to take on Aljamain Sterling in Atlantic City and says he's feeling "fantastic" in the run up to the fight.

If he beats Sterling, Brett will be ranked ninth in the bantamweight top 10 ranks.

Watch Brett in action live at UFC Fight Night: Atlantic City on BT Sport on Saturday, April 21