The Blackburn fighter takes on home favourite Marco Novak at Oktagon 77 in Bratislava, Slovakia on Saturday – and he has set his sights of breaking back in to the top 10 fighters in the world.

Fry, who trains at North West Fight Academy in Preston, will be looking to improve of his record of six wins and three defeats – the last of which came against Vlado Lengal last September.

The 29-year-old took the sport by storm when he beat Deniz Ilbay before also catching the eye in a narrow defeat to German superstar Max Holzer.

However, the loss to Lengal led to Fry taking a step back to ‘fill the gaps in his game’ – but now he is ready to return to action.

“I’ve taken a year out since my last bout for my own personal development,” said Fry. “My start to life with Oktagon has been a whirlwind – I had the biggest win of my career against Deniz Ilbay to then go and lose to arguably the biggest star in Germany in Max Holzer.

“I then lost a contest I personally think I was dominating against Vlado Lengal last September. I took some well needed time out to fill in the gaps in my game to be in the best shape possible for my big return to competition.”

Fry will have no worries about taking on Novak in his own backyard.

He grabbed the headlines when he beat the experienced and home favourite, Ilbay, in front of 20,000 partisan German fans in Cologne back in November.

It was a win that saw Fry earn the first-ever debutant ‘Performance of the Night’ award and the prize fund and plaudits that came with it.

Fry, nicknamed The Sniper, and Noval are both considered as strikers and organisers are expecting fireworks when they pair meet on Saturday evening.

“The fans can expect a more complete version of ‘The Sniper’ than they’ve seen in the past,” added Fry. “I’m coming back to put my name back in that top ten, proving I’m one of the best featherweights in Europe’.

“I think Marco Novak is a great fighter who is well accomplished in other combat disciplines like Muay Thai and K1, picking up titles in both sports.

“However, I think I have the edge in every area. I’m more of a finisher with all my wins coming from first round stoppages whereas Novak wins more fights by decision.

“I firmly believe me and Novak won’t be taking a backwards step and I’m sure it’s going to be a fan friendly contest from the first bell. I believe I will finish Novak.”va, Slovakia, on October 4.