What started as a fitness class to lose weight after giving birth has turned into an international career for Aussie UFC fighter Bec Rawlings.
"I started at a kickboxing cardio class to lose weight after giving birth to my son," she said. "It was literally just to get back in shape and get some motivation back into my life. I didn't even know you could fight and get paid!"
That was in 2010. Fast forward to 2017, and after fighting in a variety of promotions around the world, the Tasmanian-born strawweight is about to step into the octagon in the UFC for the fifth time.
"I'd been training for like four months or so when they offered to train me for a fight, but then I fell pregnant with my second son so I had to sit on the sidelines," she said.
"After I gave birth to him I got stuck into training full fling, and I had my first fight nine months after giving birth to my youngest son, so it was a pretty quick turnaround."
After making her debut in her home state in 2011, she fought across Australia and the US before breaking out in the UFC's reality series, The Ultimate Fighter.
The Ultimate Fighter is essentially Australian Idol or The Apprentice for fighters, many participants going on to have long careers in the UFC itself.
"I had fun in there, but it was definitely stressful," Rawlings said. "It's not the best environment to perform at your absolute 100 percent, when there's cameras in your facing and coaching staff that's not your team. But it was a cool experience. I met some really nice girls and I still have those friendships to this day."
Rawlings, along with 15 other women, were entered in a knockout tournament to determine a champion – and three years' later, she'll get the chance for revenge against the fighter who defeated her, Tecia Torres.
"With all my losses, I want to get a rematch," Rawlings said. "It sucks losing, so you wanna go out there and get that win back. It's nice to get a rematch and avenge that loss. It's been a few years since that fight and it'll be nice to get out there and show everyone how much I've improved."
Torres is ranked as the sixth best strawweight challenger in the UFC's women's division, and a win for Rawlings in Houston on Sunday could see her catapult into the top 15 contenders for the title – and she's confident of victory.
"My coach, Eric Del Fierro, is a mastermind, and I put all my faith in him," Rawlings said. "Obviously, I've watched Tecia's fights. I've fought her before so I know her style.
"This fight hasn't been that hard to get ready for, just because I've been in there with her [before] and I really don't feel like she's evolved since that fight."
It will be her biggest test to date, after losing to the 10th-ranked contender Paige VanZant in her last fight in August 2016, but Rawlings isn't fazed by being the underdog this weekend.
Rawlings says who she's taking on is irrelevant and that every fight is treated the same way. She moved her entire life to America two months' ago and says she spends her days training (sometimes two or three times a day) and eating healthy, with no time for a social life.
"It doesn't matter where it is, or who it is, I'm gonna prepare 100 percent," she said. "I moved my whole life to the US for eight weeks to get ready. It's pretty crazy to think you lose a huge chunk of your life devoted to training for 15 minutes of a fight."
Training and making weight are never easy and Rawlings is hoping UFC will introduced a women's flyweight division soon so she can fight at 125 pounds (56.7kg) instead of at her current fighting weight of 115 pounds (52.2kg).
"I'm praying for the UFC to bring that in," Rawlings said. "I'm a very big strawweight, and it's not fun to make weight. I want to be active, I want to fight three or four times [in 2017], but it's hard trying to make strawweight.
"We'll just wait and see what the future holds. If not, I'll just keep trying to make strawweight and keep winning fights. This is my livelihood, this is how I make money, this is how I feed my children. I'll make it happen one way or another."
"In my head and in my heart I feel like I'm the best in the world, I'm just yet to prove it."