Fight News Australia spoke with Benny Mortimer in the lead up to his FWC Australian Title fight this weekend against reigning title holder 'Diamond' Dan Pauling.

Since his introduction to the sport a mere 3 ½ years ago, Ben Mortimer has moulded himself into one of the best MMA fighters to come out of the Gold Coast. His name is synonymous with the emergence and upward trajectory of mixed martial arts in the Eastern states of Australia and is well regarded as one of Australia's most powerful welterweights and an "all round good guy". But good guys still want to win by knock out and that's the aim this weekend when Prophecy Fight Centre and Nutrition Underground's Ben Mortimer challenges Shindo New Breed's Dan Pauling for his Australian FWC belt and title at Nerang PCYC.

The man standing in Mortimer's way this weekend is 'Diamond' Dan Pauling, trained by Kerry Dunne from Shindo New Breed. With a fight record of 6-0, he is the reigning FWC champ after claiming the title with a first round submission over Isaac Tisdale in June, earlier this year. The Shindo young gun has his eyes focused firmly on making it to the top of his game with hopes to one day fight internationally. Undefeated and with a highly regarded ground game and height and reach advantage, Pauling is stepping up to take on the formidable and more experienced Ben Mortimer who has traded with international fighters UFC's Karo Parisyan and LegendFC's Rod McSwain.

Making his MMA debut in 2009 Mortimer has been hungry to succeed taking on four bouts in the last six months of his debut year facing widely respected fighters such as IMA's Silvester Lidicky and future training partner and Prophecy comrade, Ryan Yanz. His two early losses have contributed to the tenacity in which Mortimer approaches his training, continually seeking to perfect the many facets of an elite level martial artist. Currently training with Vince Parry of PUMMA and at Gracie Barra Surfers Paradise, in addition to his daily Prophecy training schedule, Mortimer is looking to maximise his power potential working with former Muay Thai champion and Prophecy trainer, Anthony 'The Hitman' Vella through developing his boxing technique and footwork.

Moving to 5 Rings Dojo in 2010 and working with long time friend and training partner, Jai Bradney along with Roy Luxton and Daniel Lima saw Mortimer progress rapidly. This was evident in his bout against Shane Nix taking out the WKBF Australian MMA Title at Fate MMA in June of the same year and going on to face 27 fight UFC veteran, Karo Parisyan the following month. The Parisyan fight was a highlight for Mortimer, who walked away from the fight with nothing lost but everything gained, "I learnt alot from that fight. That it's not what you can do or how good you are, it only matters what you believe you can do. Self-belief".

Taking almost a year off after his October 10 bout with Rod McSwain, Mortimer came back firing at Nitro 3 to take on the highly anticipated fight against Axis Jiu-Jitsu Academy's Benny Alloway in July this year. After much talk and debate, Mortimer secured the win with a 3rd round arm bar. Taking a well deserved rest after this fight, Mortimer's team got the call for this weekend's FWC Title fight with Dan Pauling. Talking about the match up, the Punish Fight Gear sponsored fighter had this to say of Pauling, "He's great on the ground but stand up, we are at different levels. I know he understands a lot about leverage but I don't think he'll have the strength to capitalise on it". With only 1 fight out of a combined 16 fights between them going to decision, come Main Event this Saturday expect fireworks as Benny 'Knuckles5%er' Mortimer takes on 'Diamond' Dan Pauling for the FWC Australian Welterweight Title.