Few fighters will go through the struggles Jorge Masvidal has been through to make it to the top.
The MMA veteran is 50 fights deep into his professional career heading into tonight's UFC 272 grudge match with former teammate Colby Covington.
Long before the self-proclaimed ‘King of Miami’ was crowned the UFC’s ‘baddest mother******’, he was scrapping in back gardens and willing to fight in any MMA promotion for free.
Masvidal broke away from his journeymen status in the welterweight division after scoring a trio of knockout wins that made him one of the promotion’s biggest stars.
In the most personal fight of his lengthy UFC career, Masvidal faces former friend turned bitter rival Colby Covington in one of the biggest grudge matches in promotional history.
And so before his fight with bitter rival Covington, we take a look at the story of Masvidal's fighting career...
Backyard fights
Masvidal has always credited fighting with keeping him away from a life of crime. Moving from neighbourhood to neighbourhood in his native Miami, he would challenge anyone who claimed they could beat him.
The only money Masvidal would earn from winning his backyard brawls would be what he could put together with his friends to bet on himself, which was sometimes as little as $40.
His reputation as a backyard brawler would be bolstered when he met famous street fighter Kimbo Slice, who later fought for the UFC.
The pair trained at the same gym which led to Masvidal being offered fights in Slice's backyard, one of which was against his 200lb protege 'Ray'.
'Ray' outweighed Masvidal, who was nicknamed 'Ponytail' at the time, by a considerable amount but it wouldn't matter as he won the fight and their eventual rematch.
Early days in MMA
Masvidal turned professional almost two decades ago, first competing for Florida-based promotion Absolute Fighting Championships where he would go on to win the welterweight title.
He would go on to compete for the historic Bodog promotion which produced several other UFC veterans such as Chael Sonnen, Steve Berger and Eddie Alvarez.
And Sonnen explained why he knew Masvidal would be a star after his Bodog fight with Berger.
"You've got Masvidal who's a boy and Berger who's a rough guy, so Masvidal comes to the ring and starts yelling at Berger from down on the floor,' he said.
"At some point in this fight Masvidal is on top, postures up and takes his eyes off Berger starts having a conversation with the ringside girl whilst punching the UFC veteran in his face," Sonnen said on his YouTube channel.
"Berger starts to scramble out, Masvidal stops him returns so he's positioned towards the ring-card girl and finishes asking her out."
Masvidal competed for the Japanese promotion Sengoku and challenged for the lightweight title in Strikeforce before the promotion merged with the UFC in 2013.
Journeyman status
Masvidal started off his UFC career in great fashion, outpointing crafty veteran Tim Means and impressively submitting Michael Chiesa to win his first two fights in the promotion.
Continuing his good form by picking up a trio of decision wins in 2014, things started to go south for Masvidal at lightweight after a controversial split-decision loss to Al Iaquinta.
Something needed to change for 'Gamebred', so he made the decision to stop making the brutal weight cut to 155lb and move up to welterweight.
But things weren't improving as split-decision losses to Benson Henderson and Lorenz Larkin made it seem like Masvidal was back at square one.
But his future looked brighter after scoring consecutive knockouts of veterans Jake Ellenberger and Donald Cerrone and it seemed like Masvidal was ready to compete with the elite at 170lb.
In a fight that would decide the next title challenger, Masvidal was out-grappled by Demian Maia and would drop further in the rankings after losing his next fight to Stephen Thompson.
Who wins this Saturday - Colby Covington or Jorge Masvidal? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below
Rise to stardom
After holding the record for the most split-decision losses in the UFC, Masvidal's career switched to an upwards trajectory after he knocked out Darren Till at UFC London.
It was Masvidal's first fight in 18 months and he credited going on a Spanish reality TV show for the resurgence in his career.
"I reverse engineered my whole career numerous times," he told ESPN. "But never in depth like I did this last time, when I was in isolation under the stars, just me, God and the universe.
"I'd seen every one of my decision losses in my head and went back. 'How could I have won that decision?' was my first answer.
"Then I immediately killed that person and thought and said, 'Why the hell would I look for a way to outpoint a guy?' I should be ending them."
A record-breaking five-second knockout over Ben Askren followed by a win over Nate Diaz to become the 'BMF' champion made Masvidal a star, all in the matter of a year.
He is now one of the top-five highest paid fighters in the UFC after signing a lucrative new deal heading into his fight with Covington.
Vowing he won't retire until he is a UFC champion, Masvidal is hoping a win against Covington will set up a trilogy fight with welterweight king Kamaru Usman.
