They say the fight game is more mental than physical; but, while most would not disagree, there remains something to be said for the mental edge a fighter can gain as the result of his physical capabilities.
The relationship between the mental and physical is well illustrated by the career of MFC light heavyweight contender David Heath.

"I used to go into a fight like, 'Man, 15 minutes? I'm going to have to be smart. If I get into this position or that position, I'm going to have to pace myself because I don't want to gas out,'" Heath admitted.

"Now, I go into a fight and I don't care if we need to sprint for 15 minutes because I know that I'll be ok."

Heath (11-4) will take on Edmonton's own Travis Galbraith (16-5) this Friday at MFC 21: Hard Knocks live on HDNet from the sold-out River Cree Resort & Casino, looking to continue the latest upswing in a topsy-turvy career that he began in 2003.

The native of Tulsa, Oklahoma initially started out with a bang: winning his first nine professional bouts, including a victory over former MFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Victor Valimaki.

However, Heath has since dropped four of his last six fights to the likes of Lyoto Machida, Renato Sobral, Tim Boetsch, and current MFC Light Heavyweight
Champion Emanuel Newton.

The calibre of his latest opponents, by themselves, are not enough to explain the dramatic reversal of fortune that Heath has experienced over the last two years - problems with both his mind and body have also had something to do with it.

"I think it came down to my training, which was really effective early in my
career," Heath said. "It was all very new to me and I was quite responsive to it. But, somewhere along the line, I got into a rut and didn't realize it; I started fighting some really tough opponents - not that had I been in the best shape in the world, fighting a guy like Machida would have been easy - but, I went into some of these fights, like against Babalu, a little bit arrogant. I thought I could get by with an injury that I had that didn't really allow me to train for the last four weeks before the fight.

"And, you know, I've gone into other fights thinking I was in really good shape, like the Newton fight, and I realized that just because I could spar 5-6 rounds with some guys that I was really comfortable with didn't mean that I was in real shape."

After the loss to Newton, Heath was determined to change the way he
approached his training and so he hired a strength and conditioning coach to
give him the gas tank he'll need in order to compete at the highest level.

"It's really just been a learning process in figuring out where I need to be
and now I think I'm there," Heath said. "I feel like I'm now in the shape
that I should have been all along."

It's that type of conditioning that has afforded Heath the confidence to
claim he's got his sights set firmly on the MFC Light Heavyweight
Championship. However, that only comes through a win over Travis Galbraith.

"I've never been the type of guy to get ahead of myself," Heath said
adamantly. "I treat every fight like it's a title fight and all those
possible fights after this one don't mean shit if I don't get this win."

"I've prepared accordingly and I'm taking Travis [Galbraith] very seriously.
He's a tough guy with 22 fights - so he's got more experience than me and
he's been in some big shows. He's probably going to come in there just as
comfortable and confident as I am; and so, you have to take a guy like that
serious."

You can't blame Heath, either. All this talk about cardio and fitness
certainly shouldn't imply an easy, three-round, pitter-patter of a victory
on Friday night.

Heath's opponent, Galbraith, is an accomplished submission fighter with a
wealth of experience and a penchant for ending fights early. In fact,
Galbraith has gone to a decision just once in his 22 fight career.

In other words, don't blink on Friday - at all.

Tickets for MFC 21: Hard Knocks are available through www.ticketmaster.ca or
by calling 1-800-451-8000. The event will also be broadcast live in the
United States on HDNet at 10pm EST.