WILTSHIRE MMA fighter Kent Kauppinen believes he is just three wins away from a world title shot following his first-round knockout of Alessio Sakara in Bellator 211 earlier this month.

The Chippenham resident knocked Sakara out with a brutal left hook in front of a partisan Italian crowd to improve his MMA record to 11-4.

Kauppinen, who trains in Melksham, is currently fighting on Bellator shows – the second-biggest MMA promoter in the world behind the UFC promoting group, both of which are based in the USA.

Victory in Italy was Kauppinen’s only one this year following two earlier losses, but after continuing his ascent towards Bellator’s big-time, the 27-year-old trusts he is within touching distance of etching his name into the history books.

He said: “I’ll look to have another fight in three or four months and then I’ll look to go for a world title shot in three wins time.

“I’ll hopefully have two fights next year – April and September – one more in early 2020 and then by the end of that year, I’d ask for the world title shot.”

And while Kauppinen says he has a lot of other people to thank for helping him reach the upper echelons of Bellator shows, his single-minded attitude to training has helped shape him into the fighter he is today.

He said: “I can enjoy my Christmas, but I’m still training – I’m just not up at 4:30am at the moment like I was for my last fight. It was horrendous, but I had to win. I couldn’t lose.

“The next fight I go for and the fight after that, I will work even harder each time to push myself further.

“I want to put my name on the map and I’ve got an opportunity to do that.

“Bellator is one of the biggest shows in the world and I’ve had a fair few people who have really helped me out.

“They’re all Wiltshire people and I’d like to publicly thank them for everything they’ve done.

“Richard Henley, who is a primer from Corsham, has been superb for me. I’ve got Badboy supplements from Chippenham, ifixer (Chippenham), Firststep UK gym (Corsham), R & S Construction (Swindon), AllPYE Solutions, Melksham scaffolding and Dom Cre8 World all in my corner and I can’t thank them enough."