The 21-year-old has won 13 bouts, 10 by submission, and achieved silver at the Australian National Jiu Jitsu Championships last year - but a unique clash could make his next win the sweetest yet.
Fighting NSW State Champion Shea Kavanagh, Pitolau is adjusting his approach compared to how he’s obtained victories before.
“My opponent is not usually what I’m used to, I’m usually bigger than my opponents and use my strength and size to my advantage, slowing the fight down to beat them,” Pitolau said.
“But my opponent in this fight is a bit bigger, so I’ve been focusing on using agility and building my cardio to outpace him, wear him out and capitalise on his mistakes.”
Pitolau has a dedicated workload in preparation for combat on June 12, consistently training for multiple years now.
But it’s not just Shepparton where Pitolau hones his craft.
When able to travel, or on the road due to work, Pitolau is embracing a variety of jiu jitsu gymnasiums to add more strings to his bow.
“I have been training for about two-and-a-half years, with around eight hours a week of pure jiu jitsu on top of extra cardio and gym work.
“My home gym is Orion Jiu-Jitsu Academy on Hoskin St in Shepparton, but I travel around a fair bit too.
“It’s pretty valuable at my current ability to travel around and learn techniques from all over, because there’s some you won’t see or get taught if you stay at the one gym.
“I used to go to Melbourne once a week, but with my current line of work I train in different spots depending on where I am - I’ve enjoyed some of the gyms out in Bendigo and Geelong.”
Competing in volume 11 of FFC, Pitolau was drawn to the card after inquiring about the opportunity to fight under the promoter’s banner.
“I’d seen (FFC)’s fights before, they’re becoming one of the premier promoters for MMA and are very prominent on social media,” he said.
“I reached out after their last event and they set me up with an opponent.”
With a week to go, the ticketed fight night will be Pitolau’s first major cage fight of his career, his maiden bout in front of a crowd too.
But any nerves won’t deter the heavyweight fighter, who is on a mission to show what country folk can do.
“I’ve got a big session ahead of me, but once the weekend’s out, training will be a lot lighter with sparring, and I’ll just focus on cardio and the gym to be fully recovered and injury-free for the fight,” Pitolau said.
“It’ll be my first fight in a cage and with a crowd, I’ve never really had that before but I’m fairly confident.
“I want to prove that the country has good jiu jitsu fighters too, not just people from the city.”
Pitolau’s fight is scheduled on Friday, June 12 at Melbourne Pavilion.
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