Bywater made the change, citing he felt like he was comfortable with his achievements in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and wanted to challenge himself with a new sport.

Making his debut in November, Bywater said he the competition was "spookily" scary.

"After competing in a number of state and national Brazilian Jiu Jitsu tournaments, I thought I would have been more prepared mentally," Bywater said.

"It's a big difference when you can get kneed, punched - whatever really.

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"The nerves were definitely there because I knew there was a great chance of injury in MMA compared to jiu jitsu."

Bywater didn't have the perfect lead in to the competition, injuring his foot only a week before the tournament on November 9.

"Just over a week out after training one day I noticed something wasn't right," he said.

"I looked down and my foot was twice the size of my other and I thought, geez, this is not good."

Bywater was pencilled in to make his MMA debut in June but was delayed due to the organisers withdrawing the competition.

Bywater said he was in immense pain with the injury of his foot.

"I could barely walk on it until about Wednesday before my fight," he said.

"The Thursday before my Saturday fight I started moving around but I still couldn't do a lot."

Bywater said during the warm-up, he knew he would have to make some strategic moves to be competitive due to the injury.

"I was looking at my opponent and seeing him bounce around thinking to myself there was no way I could keep up with him," he said.

"Very early I was able to get a hold of him and take him to the ground straight away."

Bywater claimed the victory in his first MMA fight.

"All the adrenaline from the event masked the pain from my foot a little bit," he said.

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"I was still hesitant out there, but once we got on the ground I was fine."

Bywater completed in another fight on the same day, which resulted in a draw.

"Halfway through the second round in that match up I ended up front kicking my opponent square in the chest," he said.

"I felt my foot rattle and pop and felt like someone had stuck a knife through it.

"We ended up on the ground again for the rest of the fight.

"After the fight my foot felt alright and the next day I had no pain on swelling."

Bywater said outside of the injury, he was pleased with the success of the competition and has his sights set on his next in late January or early February.

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