Ben Burrage knows he is at the "back end" of his long and illustrious combat sports career, but he can't quite see the finish line yet.
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At age 41, the ageing warrior feels rejuvenated following hip surgery.
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And at the Bonnyrigg Sports Club in Sydney on July 10, he will fight for the first time in almost two years.
It will be a Muay Thai contest against Sydneysider Sreten Miletic, whom he has fought twice previously - the honours shared.
"I've got the [hip] resurface now," Burrage said of the operation. "I'm just gonna see how it goes."
"Training's going well," he added. "Hopefully we've got a few more [years] left."
Burrage was 20 year old when he had his first kickboxing fight.
Since then he's had 119 bouts across boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, K1 karate and knockdown karate - for 79 wins, 37 losses, two draws and one no contest.
It's a staggering number of fights that has yielded three world titles, as well as Commonwealth, South Pacific, national and state belts.
And despite fighting for more than 20 years, Burrage feels "great".
"Obviously, because I've been doing it for so long, you've got the experience and that," he said.
"And now the hip is just a lot more freer. I can kick better with it. Yeah, I feel really good about it [where he is at]."
Burrage said he still had ambitions to fight overseas.
"If it goes well ... yeah, sure, we'll go on," he said of prolonging his career.
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