THREE fighters from the Whakatāne MMA Centre are stepping their training up a notch after being selected for the WKA Asian Pacific Championship in Bali next year.

Nathan Garner, James Whitcombe and Kyrus Richmond will be part of the New Zealand team competing at Mirah Stadium in Kuta on February 25.

Nathan, 17, from Whakatāne, has been training in mixed martial arts for about three years.

He works in retail and loves the discipline and hard work he and other fighters are exposed to during training.

“Being selected makes me feel excited and motivated,” he said.

He trains seven days a week and is grateful to Whakatāne MMA Centre and Kotaga Ryu Martial Arts Whakatāne for supporting him.

Fifteen-year-old James has been training for one-and-a-half years and is “pretty excited” to be selected.

“I will train harder and do some more fights,” he said. “I’ve only done one, so far.”

Whitcombe said he really liked the club and being in the environment it provided.

Fourteen-year-old Kyrus is a Whakatāne High School student who has been fighting for four years,  training six times a week.

He likes the consistency and the challenge of the training.

Although he was expecting to be selected, he said he was happy when his selection was confirmed. “I will train harder from now on,” he said.

NZ WKA president Emelio Johnson said he had been aware of Brad Kora’s gym for a long time and Kora was making a good impact on tamariki in Whakatāne.

Alongside their training, the three fighters will be busy over the next few months raising money to get to Bali.