The Rough House gym in Nottingham, England, is known primarily for two things: having a virtual stranglehold on the U.K. welterweight scene with their deadly trio of Paul Daley (Pictures), Dan Hardy (Pictures) and Jim Wallhead (Pictures) and producing some of the finest young mixed martial artists in the U.K.

FX3 lightweight champion Andre Winner (Pictures) is one such rising star. In building an impressive 7-1 record, he has defeated established fighters including Aidon Marron, Wesley Felix (Pictures) and Sami Berik (Pictures).

Winner attributes his success to the hard work he puts in with his Rough House teammates.

"I saw Daley and Dan at Leicester Shoot," he says on how the team formed, "and it wasn't really Team Roughhouse like how it is now. There was really just Paul and Dan and another lad, Matt [Howell], that were training. They were competing, and that kind of gave me the inspiration to pick up mixed martial arts, like, get in there, compete and everything, and from there on it formed the Rough House. Paul and Dan made it what it is."

With team training taking place at the Bushido Academy in Nottingham and many venues to choose from for individual training, Winner knits his preparation together for best effect.

"I prefer to train for an hour, then go off and do what I'm doing and then train for another hour," he says. "So I do an hour's cardio or an hour's weights in the morning, have my breakfast, and then I'll go off and do my striking later on. That way I have a bigger rest period. So hopefully I would've done that by 12 o'clock and then I'll train at 6 o'clock in the evening, so I get enough rest in because sometimes, if you let it drag over too much, when it's time to train in the evening, you're tired again."

By making his way to numerous training sessions throughout the week, Winner adds himself to a growing list of fighters in the U.K. who have given up day jobs to focus exclusively on the fight game. "I used to do door work before, but now I'm just trying to concentrate on my fight career," Winner says. "Trying to put all my energy into that, you know, and make something out of it."

The fighter from Leicester shows some genuine regret when he reflects on a couple of recent fights. By his own standards, he was gun-shy despite winning.

"I don't think I pushed myself as hard as I should have," Winner says. "I've been too … not happy but content to coast if you like, do enough to win. I've got to snap out of that and start finishing people. I know what I can do, I know I can hit hard. I know I can hit a lot faster than I do. I should just let it go, be more relaxed and let it flow. I just want … to win fights doing what I should be doing and that's knocking people out."

For his next test, Winner says he'll face Mario Stapel in November. "I've not seen too many of his fights," he says. "I know he's got a good name, good groundwork. His standup is OK, nothing I can't deal with, I think anyway. He's a good fighter. It's going to be a tough test, but he's beatable, so I'm looking forward to that."

With plans to follow his teammates to America for training, Winner -- a genuinely talented athlete with a taste for hard training -- is determined to find out how far he can take his promising career.

"I'd love to be the UFC champ, and that's my main goal," he says. "You have to put your work in, you have to put your grind in. So I'm willing to put my work in, and hopefully I'll get there. But I know it takes time. Obviously the UFC is the biggest stage at the minute. That's where everyone would like to be."