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When Shem Rock chose to flee from the police, he did not think he would last a day.
He was wrong - he eluded them for seven years. But, remarkably, it would lead him out of a difficult life in the most unexpected way.
Accused of a burglary with violence and assault in 2014, Liverpool's Rock went on the run aged 20, fearing he would be jailed for a crime he did not commit.
He packed his belongings, set his alarm for 5am and left his house in Toxteth the next morning.
"I thought, 'They're going to put a block on this passport', but they didn't," Rock told BBC Sport.
"Then I thought when I get to the border in France, they will say, 'passports please', and arrest me. They didn't even look at my passport.
"I got off the Eurostar train in France like, 'wow'. Then I knew they were not going to stop me."
Rock, whose full name is Shaqueme Rock, moved on to Malaysia, and it would be seven years before he would be arrested back in the UK, where he served six months in custody on remand.
In 2022 he was found not guilty in court, clearing his name of the charge which had cast a shadow over his life.
Now, after building a four-fight win streak in European promotion Oktagon, Rock is set to make his UFC debut at the age of 32.
Rock, who trains at Liverpool's Next Generation MMA gym alongside Paddy Pimblett, faces Tajikistan's Nurullo Aliev in a lightweight bout in Qatar on Saturday.
His team-mate from Liverpool Luke Riley is also debuting for the UFC on the same card against Austrian featherweight Bogdan Grad.
"That was my old life, this is my new life, and now the sky is the limit," said Rock.
"Everything that I've been through, all the hurdles, all the doors being slammed in my face, all the haters - it's built my character and made me hungrier."
Growing up, Rock said he mixed with "the wrong crowd" and was arrested numerous times as a teenager before being released with no charge.
His life changed when he was arrested and questioned by police over an alleged burglary.
When he was informed by his solicitor that the police had mistakenly bailed him, he panicked.
"I knew the rigmarole of being arrested, but not the rigmarole of going to jail as a young lad," said Rock.
"I thought, 'I'm not going to jail for a crime I haven't committed', so I fled."
After reaching France, Rock flew to Thailand, where he stayed for several months before moving to Malaysia.
There, he attended his first Brazilian jiu-jitsu class.
"I caught the bug immediately. At that point in my life it was something I needed. I was a bit reckless, off the rails. My professor instilled discipline in me on and off the mats," said Rock.
"I really applied myself, changed my life and lived on the straight and narrow."
Trying to earn more money, Rock entered two martial arts-based reality television shows in Asia, but once TV producers learned he was wanted by police in the UK, they kicked him out.
With opportunities drying up, a then 27-year-old Rock decided to move to Ireland to further his career.
But after travelling to Northern Ireland in 2021 for a fight, he was arrested in Belfast and spent six months behind bars awaiting trial.
"Not for a second did I think my MMA career was over," said Rock.
"I lifted weights every day in my cell, I shadow boxed every day. I did everything I could.
"I knew I'd already found my passion and I'd already found what I was supposed to do on this planet. Nothing would have stopped me."
Rock describes his emotions when he was acquitted in April 2022. After seven years on the run, the trial lasted less than 20 minutes.
"I never saw my family in Liverpool for years. But the thing that most made me happy was all this time I was wanted for a burglary," he said.
"They tarnished my name and to have my name cleared of being a house robber was the best thing for me."
Free of the accusations he had lived with the weight of for almost a decade, Rock could now focus entirely on MMA.
"I was out [of jail] on the Thursday or Friday and then on the Monday I was in the gym training. Straight in the deep end - it was boss," said Rock.
He says it was a "no-brainer" to join Next Generation and since then he has not looked back.
A version of this story was originally published on 28 April 2023.
