I was born in Osaka. I came to New York when I was three. I moved from New York to Florida when I was, like, eight or nine, and then I have been training in Florida since.
My favourite place to train is in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where I train with my aunt and sister during the off-season. It is basically a flat, grassy area by the side of the road where we have made a path to run on.
My idea is to have two bases. I keep my family in Rio, and when I have a fight scheduled, I will come to Vegas to train here at Xtreme Couture, which I consider the best place for a MMA fighter to be.
At times, training at home is a distraction, so training in Big Bear was a really good change.
It's easier for me to go to Russia and train with top coaches and choreographers there than go to Colorado Springs and train with 14 of my competitors.
I prefer to train alone at SAI camp in Hyderabad. I don't train at national camp at NIS Patiala.
It was a mistake of mine to train like that, with friends, at home. It was a handicap I should not have given myself. In Croatia, we do not have big camps like in other countries, but I was not willing to go away to train.
I feel better training in Brazil.
I decided to go to Germany, because I found a new coach and he was based out of Germany, as well as my trainer there, Daniel.
I trained in Texas at Nikki Pederson Talent Academy.
I love Los Angeles. I live here and I love training here.
We have a great set-up in Las Vegas. I love being in Vegas; all our camps will be in Vegas. We are just going to spend more time in the U.K. in terms of fighting. But New Zealand will still be home for me.
