In his youth, Bukauskas performed tennis and basketball, even transferring internationally to pursue the latter, however each highway led him again to combating.

As soon as his coronary heart difficulty was resolved, Bukauskas centered totally on blended martial arts – bar a brief aspect quest aged 24 when he appeared on ITV courting present Take Me Out – and was signed by the UFC with a 10-2 file.

He received his first struggle however slipped to a few defeats in a row. He blew his knee out in a defeat by Khalil Rountree in 2021.

The UFC reduce him afterwards and so started one other troublesome chapter within the lifetime of the younger Bukauskas.

“There was loads of instances simply in my room, like inside my 4 partitions with my knee in a forged… loads of instances the place it was very painful, ingesting myself to sleep,” he explains.

Deep down, he knew this was not a sustainable path to sporting success.

“Clearly I am not happy with that,” Bukauskas says.

“I assume you could possibly say I’ve at all times been taught within the family to be mentally robust, so I by no means actually checked out it like [I was depressed].

“It was my manner of escaping the true world.”

Bukauskas hid the ingesting from his father. He spent weeks in a darkish place in his thoughts he had by no means been to earlier than.

However his father and people closest round him had been a relentless supply of reassurance, and Bukauskas re-emerged stronger.

“You simply trip that wave,” he says.

“If you’re wanting up on the mountain, you are standing there on the backside; clearly it appears fairly daunting, however you make gradual steps.”