The fighter known as Little Red is gearing up for his next big bout.

A pro MMA fighter from a Seaham gym that’s produced some of the best in the business is limbering up for his next international fight.

Nathan's last fight with Oktagon, which he won | Oktagon

placeholder image — Nathan's last fight with Oktagon, which he won | Oktagon

Nathan Haywood, 28, from Houghton, fights out of TFT gym which, despite being tucked away in Strangford Road, is a hotbed of MMA talent who compete around the world as Team Fish Tank.

Nathan is signed to European MMA promoter Oktagon and he’ll be stepping into their octagon once more on September 12 as part of the Oktagon 93 fight card.

He’ll be taking on Czech fighter Šimon"Hobit" Bruknar on Czech home soil in what’s been billed as a clash of the bantamweights.

Nathan will once again be fighting in Brno in the Czech Republic where he blew fans out of their seats last year when he knocked Chotěnovský down with an unprecedented hook kick.

The fighter, who juggles training with working in Lidl, says he’s had plenty of time to prepare and is confident he can follow up with another win.

“I’m feeling really good,” he said. “I’ve had lots of notice and lots of time to train. If you get short notice, you jump straight into camp and you get fit but it’s a bit more risky as you’re going 1-100. The more time the better.

“It means you have more time to study your opponent, too. You can watch out for daft things they do, it’s not mistakes as such, but they might drop their left hand when they jab, little tendencies like that.”

Nathan is another success story from TFT gym | Oktagon

Speaking about the support he receives from the Czech fans, he said: “In England the fighters from other countries often get boos. But I didn’t get one boo last time I fought in the Czech Republic. The fans there are so friendly and they love their MMA.”

Nathan whose nickname of Little Red comes from he was younger and his hair colour said it’s great to be part of a gym which fosters such a high calibre of fighting talent.

The gym, which is owned by Sunderland couple, Andrew and Katrina Fisher, has produced world class fighters including UFC’s Mick Parkin, world heavyweight KSW champ Phil de Fries, Cage Warrior’s Justin Burlinson and many more.

Nathan said: “In places like Manchester and Liverpool they have really big good gyms and you expect to get lots of fighters from it.

“To have such a concentration of good fighters from a smaller gym is unusual. But the North East has a great community for MMA.”