Heavy.com is pleased to present the second installment in our exclusive fighter blog with James Te Huna, the New Zealand-born mixed martial artist who is making his UFC debut in Melbourne at UFC 110.

I think success has a lot to do with timing and doing things when the going is good. As a mixed martial artist, I've had six straight professional wins now and I'm entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) – the biggest mixed martial arts promotion on the planet. I've worked hard on my game, recovered from injuries, beaten all opponents put in front of me and am now approaching my UFC debut at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia on Feb 21.

It hasn't been easy getting here and, in fact, my first five years of fighting MMA were very problematic because of injury troubles. I suffered a regular shoulder dislocation – it must have popped out 100 times – and it would just never properly heal. It would always be a problem, regardless of whether I was training or fighting. It's come out in numerous fights, too.

Realising it wasn't getting any better, I decided to go ahead and have surgery on it. I combined the surgery with the right kind of rehab and six fights and six wins later the results speak for themselves.

I train the same way from fight to fight, but now I'm just giving myself more recovery sessions and more time to heal. I never did any kind of recovery sessions for the first five or six years of my pro career and it eventually had an effect on me with the injury. Injuries have been a big problem for me in my career and I'm now taking every step to ensure that they no longer bother me like they have done.

I just want to concentrate on beating the competition in the UFC. Everybody keeps talking about what a huge step-up it is going to be, but I'm confident in my abilities and know that I can beat a lot of top guys when I'm fit and at my best.

I've already fought a UFC veteran Anthony Perosh, although he wasn't really a top UFC fighter. I've also been over to Las Vegas and trained with Wanderlei Silva, Thiago Silva, Mike Whitehead and all those guys. I think the ability level is roughly the same. It's all about who catches who first and who can execute the better game plan. I don't see moving to the UFC as a massive step up.

I just hope the UFC fans enjoy watching my style of fighting. I'm exciting, I've got aggressive ground-and-pound and I like to pick people up above my head, run across the cage and slam them into the floor. I've also got sharp and aggressive striking. I always make my fights as exciting as possible for the fans.

I haven't got one style – I'm a mixed martial artist. I think that's what makes it so exciting for fans to watch me. I can stand and strike or I can take a guy down and pound him out. You never really know what you're going to get.

Funnily enough, my explosiveness and athletic ability has improved hugely over the years. I was no athletic standout at school. In fact, I was the skinny, weedy kid in the back of the line. I was always on the back row of the school photos and was always the kid picked last the sports teams. I didn't have any athletic talent back then, just pure heart and some discipline. I decided to have a go at MMA, put in those hard yards, and realised that there actually was something I could be good at. Now I'm entering the Ultimate Fighting Championship…