DAN Burzotta feels he is in the best shape of his life ahead of his eagerly anticipated return to action this weekend.

The 39-year-old former captain of Great Britain’s Ji-Jitsu team has come out of retirement to take on Brad Conway in Saturday’s AWOL fight night at the Talk nightclub in Southend.

And Burzotta, who last fought 10 years ago, insists he could not have trained harder for the bout.

“It’s been torture to be honest as I’ve been training twice a day for the last nine weeks, but it’s definitely been worth it,” said Burzotta.

“I’ve only been having Sundays off, but I feel as though I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in so I’m excited about the fight and cannot wait for it to start.

“I’ve been sparring with pro MMA fighter Linton Vassell as well as our own Walter Gahadza and Stav Economou, so I couldn’t have asked for better guys to prepare with.”

Burzotta is, therefore, confident of seeing off his American opponent in what should be another excellent night of action.

His fight is one of 14 taking place on the night, with fighters coming from all across Europe to take part.

“We have nine guys fighting from our TSG base in Westcliff and we’re taking on the rest of the world really,” said Burzotta.

“We have six fighters or so coming from Manchester and a few from Poland and around Europe, so it promises to be a great night.”

Another of the evening’s highlights sees the emerging and unbeaten Terry Montgomery taking on the experienced Juntas Antanas Tickets have been selling well for the event but standard seats are still available and can be bought on the door, which opens at 6.30pm.

The first fight is due to start at 7pm at the Lucy Road venue.