It's a typically toasty Saturday morning inside Auckland's combat hub, City Kickboxing.
Fitness-seeking casuals hit bags alongside seasoned UFC veterans, amid a sauna-like sweat so thick, you can actually see it. The windows are purposely shut to create that very effect.
At the centre of the action is Dan Hooker. The lightweight is working through his penultimate training session, before boarding a plane for Milwaukee, where he'll square off with Edson Barboza in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night on Sunday (NZ time).
The heat is of no concern for the man dubbed 'The Hangman'. He'll take all he can get, before he's forced to confront the depths of the notorious Wisconsin winter.
"I hate snow," Hooker murmurs.
His sparring consists of an endless onslaught of fighters in one-minute allotments, in a rotation that includes UFC middleweight revelation Israel Adesanya and Aussie lightweight prospect Alexander Volkanovski.
The unapologetically competitive Hooker maintains his laser intensity, as he welcomes one after the other, defending takedown attempts and countering strikes. There's little doubt he's enjoying every excruciating second of it.
"I just have a drive for this," Hooker tells Newshub. "For fighting, for competing against the best guys in the world.
"I'm starting to get excited. I'm just hungry to get in there and fight."
You'll rarely come across someone who has as much passion for what he does than Hooker. In a sport that demands more than most, his love affair with MMA runs deep - a martial arts purist, if ever there were one.
"That's just the way I've been. I'm here because I'm so dedicated to this that I'll do whatever it takes.
"I train seven days a week at the moment, but I've been training consistently for the past 10 years.
"I don't take time off, I don't take holidays. My holidays are when I go to Thailand and I hit Thai pads - that's a holiday to me.
"I'm probably the most dedicated person you'll find to this sport. Probably one of my biggest faults is that I train too much, I hammer my body - I train way too much."
The past decade of Hooker's life has been devoted to an ongoing cycle of training, fighting and the eternal quest for improvement, and the fruits of that labour are undeniable.
The 28-year-old is undefeated since stepping up from bantamweight - a four-fight win streak with four straight finishes. A fifth against Barboza would see him claim a record for the most consecutive stoppages in the UFC across every division.
"That's a pretty cool feather in your cap, because that's a true testament to my style.
"When I go out there I'm not even thinking, 'Oh this guy's pretty good, I'm going to try and outpoint him or try hold him down and hug him'.
"I'm trying to finish him, because that's the only true way that I believe that you beat a man. Tripping him over and holding him on his back for a few minutes, and playing to the rules - that's not a fight, that's not what it's about to me.
"The sport is one way, but my mentality is a different way."
That mentality almost seems tailor-made to his profession of choice. In stark contrast to his teammate Adesanya's staggering UFC ascent, Hooker's path to professional fighting is much more representative of the kind of selfish grind required to earn a pay cheque in such an unforgiving endeavour.
The losses, the doubts, the discouragement and then the resulting desire to prove those who questioned him wrong.
"I didn't really have the drive until I had three wins and three losses as a professional, and I knew deep down inside of me that I was better than that. People were telling me to walk away from the sport, but I couldn't let it finish like that.
"I take a loss and it drives me crazy. I'm probably the sorest loser you'll ever come across - I have to learn and improve.
"It's only that I can't handle defeat that I get to this position."
As the old combat cliche goes, you learn more from a loss than you do a win.
"It's just a process that I've repeated and repeated and refined and perfected," Hooker says. "My losses are my lessons on my record and you can see them plain as day,"
"I don't hide from that. I don't hide from my defeats, because I wouldn't be where I am without them."
For a guy like Hooker, whose lifeblood is competition, you wonder how difficult it is to turn that dial back to 'regular human' when he steps out of the gym. Fatherhood has certainly helped with that.
"I can switch off instantly with my three-week-old child - I've got a baby girl, Zoe. When I walk through those doors, it's a whole different animal.
"My wife is a big part in that, in keeping me focused on the task, and now I have something to work for, now I have a child.
"There's more purpose for the whole thing. When you're just fighting as a young 18, 19, 20-year-old, there's no real purpose - you're just doing it because you love it."
Becoming a dad is another milestone in what's been a transformative year for Hooker, which also includes the opening of his very own gym - The Combat Academy in Auckland's Ellerslie. That's yet another ball in a masterful juggling act and if it were anyone else, you'd probably question how he manages it all.
"Energy creates energy - the busier I am, the more energy I have to do other things. I enjoy challenge.
"I enjoy being busy, I enjoy testing myself."
And Hooker will face his truest test yet against Barboza this weekend. A win over the top-five Brazilian would propel him into the upper echelon of the UFC's most talent-rich division.
The 32-year-old is one of the most technically proficient strikers in the UFC and his deadly arsenal of kicks is responsible for some of the most spectacular knockouts in MMA history.
But Hooker sees that very dependence on striking as an area to exploit. As he describes it, "at this level, your strengths become your weaknesses".
"We know what he's coming with - he's coming to strike and defend takedowns. I'm a more versatile fighter and I have more options - that's just a fact.
"No one can deny that."
Hooker is creating quite a highlight reel of his own - the flying knee that shut Jim Miller's lights off and the seering knee that signalled the start of Gilbert Burns' ending. His reputation now precedes him.
"I have a lot of tools, and I can adapt and pick them, and I can change them on the night, whereas he's stuck to what he knows. I can change, he can't change - that's an advantage, that's a very big advantage.
"His game is very straightforward and I've studied hard for this test."
The bout will round out a landmark year for New Zealand MMA, with a new wave of Kiwi fighters sweeping the UFC and Hooker right at its crest. With Mark Hunt now out of the picture, he's the new veteran presence of the sport in Aotearoa.
Hooker shakes his head, as he ponders how much has changed since he was a wide-eyed kid from Mt Roskill, elbowing Ian Entwhistle into oblivion in front of his hometown back in a 2014 UFC debut that could have been lifted directly from a film script.
"That's a whole different person," he says. "I've put it all together now.
"Back then, I was just a kid who liked to fight, but now... it's incomparable. That kid wouldn't last 10 seconds in a cage with me today."
That growth extends far beyond any Octagon or gym - another step on a journey, where martial arts and life intersect.
"It does feel like an eternity ago, because I've had so much growth. This sport doesn't just help you physically grow, you're not just a better fighter.
"I've progressed and matured as a human, and that allows you to also mature as a fighter. The two are connected, intertwined.
"You can't become a better fighter without becoming a better person. It's just impossible."
He shoots a disparaging look, when asked how he sees his bout with Barboza playing out, almost as if offering a prediction of any sort would be a sign of disrespect to the temperamental nature of MMA.
"I understand this sport better than most people, the highs and the lows. You get in there and its 50-50, any man can take it on the night.
"It comes down to the moment - that's really why I love this sport so much. It's teetering on the edge of a knifepoint and it can go either way."
Training camp is out of the way, the body is fresh and after watching his gymmates' exploits in recent months, Hooker finally gets his chance to scratch his ever-present fighting itch.
"I've got to show these young fellas how it's done," he laughs. "I'm still the big dog around here.
"We all know I'm gunning for the title, so regardless of success here, I'm still going to be back in the gym - win or lose.
"I'm going to chase that as long as my body will let me."
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