Darren Till can become UFC middleweight champion - according to his long-time training partner Mike Grundy.
Grundy, from Wigan, will face Lando Varrata on Saturday night at UFC 262 in his third outing for the promotion, on his first fight card that doesn't also feature Till.
The pair are close friends having trained together for a number of years, and Till was in attendance when Grundy received his UFC contract following a class at their gym.
Till is due to return against Derek Brunson in August after an injury-plagued year and Grundy told Mirror Fighting "He is always one fight from a title shot.
"He's exciting to watch, his social media is great, he's exciting on there and very funny, but Darren is also a world class fighter.
"When you train with him his striking is unreal, his leg defence is unreal, he's beaten these top guys so he's proven he can go in there with them and Darren can be champion.
Grundy also harbours title ambitions of his own in the UFC's featherweight division, where Alexander Volkanovski is currently the champion.
"I've always had that ambition to be a UFC champion, I never just want to be a person who's in the UFC just making up the numbers.
"If I'm going to be in this sport, then I want to be champion of the world and I still feel that I can be so that's where I want to be and I know it can happen."
To get to that point, Grundy will have to start with 11-5-2 promotional veteran Lando Vanatta on Saturday night.
Vanatta is arguably the toughest test of the Brit's 14-fight career, holding three wins in the promotion and draws with strong lightweight contenders Bobby Green and Matt Frevola.
He began his career in the UFC with a fight-of-the-night losing effort against eventual interim champion Tony Ferguson and is moving down to featherweight for the first time for this contest.
"I think he might try and take his time," Grundy said. "He's got to consume his energy a bit more because that weight cut might take its toll on him.
"He can start as slow as he wants, but it doesn't matter because this fight is on my terms and I'll be starting as fast as I want to start.
"This fight means everything to me, every single fight you have is the biggest fight you've had, this guy is a good fighter with good experience - he fought Tony Ferguson - but I'm going out to make a statement and get a win as comfortably as I can."
