FEW who witnessed it will forget the epic 2005 clash between Craig Docherty and Alex Arthur, billed as the biggest Scottish boxing contest since Jim Watt took on Ken Buchanan more than three decades earlier.

Little over a year since he hung up his 10oz gloves for good, Docherty, the former Commonwealth super featherweight champion,  is becoming accustomed to gloves of the 4oz variety  as he prepares to make his return to combat sports as  a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter.

Docherty flirted with a switch to MMA as far back as 2007, but the chance to fight for the World Boxing Union lightweight title temporarily rekindled his desire to box. He finally retired in November 2010 with a record of 24 wins and seven losses.

He said: “Six of the seven guys who beat me went on to become champions, so I’m proud of what I achieved in boxing. I was at a high level, but I just never made it to the very top. I’d been a fan of MMA for years.

"I love the sport and every day is like a school day at the gym. There is so much to learn and so many different aspects of the sport. I wasn’t learning anything any more in boxing, but MMA has got that excitement back for me.”

On Saturday, February 25, he will take on Arek Zienkiewicz, a jiu-jitsu brown belt from Aberdeen’s Immortals Gold Team, in a featherweight (145lb) bout  on the main card of On Top 4 at Glasgow’s Kelvin Hall.

Docherty, raised in the Milton area of Glasgow, is not the first boxer to try his hand at MMA but, unlike some others, he has a love for the sport and respects the various skills required to make a well-rounded mixed martial artist.

The former heavyweight boxer James Toney made a disastrous 2010 foray into MMA in which he publicly dismissed jiu-jitsu and wrestling while promising to knock out anyone who dared face him in the cage.

As a result, officials from Ultimate Fighting Championship, the world’s premier MMA promotion, gave him a bout with Randy Couture, a former champion and noted wrestler, at UFC118. Couture took just three minutes to get Toney  to the ground and lock on a fight-ending choke.

Craig said: “I’m no James Toney, I’ve got skills. I’m not just a boxer. I’m a boxer with a good ground game. Brazilian jiu-jitsu is like a spaghetti junction, but I love it. I understand that MMA  is not a boxing match or a grappling match. Only a certain amount from each applies in MMA.”

When he decided to make the switch from ring to cage, Docherty sought out the best coaches and training partners – which naturally led him to the Griphouse in Glasgow, home of the Dinky Ninja Fight Team (DNFT).

“Paul McVeigh [DNFT head coach] and the other guys at the Griphouse took an interest in me and they believe in me,” he said. “I’m grateful for that. I’ve been helping them out with their boxing. It’s a mutually beneficial set-up and it’s great to see these guys improving in their striking.”

Docherty cites Dan Henderson as his MMA hero. No surprise when you consider UFC, Strikeforce and Pride FC veteran Henderson is best known for his explosive hands and, in Docherty’s words, his “rough and tumble style.”

The father of two who now makes his living as a personal trainer, isn’t in MMA for the money. The purse for a pro MMA bout at this level pales into insignificance compared to what he would have earned in his boxing heyday.

He says he is doing this to follow a long-held dream, which could have passed him by had he not walked away from a party lifestyle that threatened to wreck a promising boxing career.

“I was a silly boy for a while, but that was years ago now. It was just the usual stuff like partying and drinking and taking things for granted. But everything is tip-top now. I don’t really want to dwell on that time – I just want to concentrate on  MMA.

“Zienkiewicz has very high level of jiu-jitsu so I’m expecting the fight to go to the ground at some point. But I know enough jiu-jitsu to survive down there.”

  • On Top 4 takes place at the Kelvin Hall on Saturday, February 25. Doors open at 6pm. Tickets, starting at £30, are available from  www.ontoppromotions.co.uk  The all-pro card also has a lightweight (155lb) title fight between Lanark’s Martin Delaney and current champion Mamour Fall from France, as well as Scotland’s first pro female MMA bout, in which Joanne Calderwood takes on Noellie Molina.