With the likes of Israel Adesanya, Kai Kara-France and Dan Hooker in their ranks, Auckland-based gym City Kickboxing has certainly made a name for itself in the UFC.
After its fighters won nine of the 10 bouts in 2018, the crew at City Kickboxing today had a barbeque to celebrate a remarkable 12 months that saw them named the second most successful gym in the world.
France made a name for himself with a UFC debut victory over Elias Garcia, while Hooker earned the respect of the fighting world in his loss to Edson Barboza earlier this month.
Hooker went down to Edson Barboza earlier this month.
However, by far, City Kickboxing's shining light is none other than Adesanya, with the Kiwi-Nigerian always happy to return to his home gym.
"What's special about this gym is the people," Adesanya told 1 NEWS.
"The people make the gym - the mana, the spirit of the gym."
"You look at other UFC gyms worldwide, you have a lot of big names, a lot of egos and whatnot. You come in here, it's more of a family atmosphere.
"It's just the love of the gym, the love of the people, that's what it's about."
Kara-France emulated Adesanya's thoughts.
"Everyone's always shown up for each other, that speaks for the success of the gym," he said.
The Kiwi-Nigerian will come face-to-face with Anderson Silva in February in Melbourne.
"We're 9-1 in the UFC this year, second for win-to-loss ratio in the UFC. That's massive for a country where we only have five New Zealand-born UFC fighters."
"It speaks volumes for the impact that we've created in the UFC."
"It's an honour to be a part of it, to represent New Zealand on that world stage, and share it with the brothers that I call family. I can rely on them for anything. I'm just happy to be a part of it."
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