Miller Rogers is building a reputation for himself, Avalanche MMA and the Yukon.

The 20-year-old is now 2-0 in his amateur mixed-martial arts career after claiming his latest victory at Caged Rage 5: Rapture at the Element Bar and Grill in Castlegar, B.C., on Saturday night.

Nine bouts were featured, including three professional and six amateur fights, with Rogers being the only Yukon name on the fight card.

With Avalanche MMA coach Cliff Schultz in his corner, Rogers squared off against Calgary-based Muay Thai fighter Shane Erickson.

The Avalanche MMA's game plan was to skirt the outside of the cage and counter Erickson's shots with takedowns.

"The plan was to go in there, feel him out, see what he was going to do, and then when he moved, so he's a little bit off balance, take him down,” Rogers said.

"I got him as he was throwing another leg kick; I got him to the ground and just controlled him from there.

"We wanted to go with that game plan, which was to do pretty much exactly what I did. So it felt good being able to, while I was under pressure, stick to what we planned to do.”

Erickson, who was 1-0 before Saturday's fight, went in for a kick to start the first round. Rogers countered with a flurry of punches. Erickson went in for a second kick. Rogers caught his leg and took him down to the mat.

The initial scramble ended with Erickson catching Rogers in a Guillotine choke.

When Rogers pulled out, Erickson tried to lock him in an arm-bar. Rogers spun out to turn the fight with a Guillotine and arm-bar of his own.

"I knew I had a better ground game than him,” Rogers said. "My ground game is pretty decent. I wanted to get him there, and then I was going to either punch him or submit him.”

Rogers then made Erickson tap with a rear-naked choke at four minutes, 10 seconds of the first round.

The plan was executed perfectly, Schultz said.

"That's what we wanted to do, because if (Rogers) tried to utilize the middle of the cage, then that's where that guy would become very dominant; he can go in and out very quickly,” said Schultz, who had learned about Erickson's fighting style a month before the bout.

"That's how we trained for the fight. We found out about a month before the fight, so we trained this way, made our game plan that way to win the fight, and it worked out perfectly. Miller pretty much got no damage done to him whatsoever and we won the fight, and that's just by sticking to the game plan.”

That latest win brings Avalanche MMA's fight record to 5-0 since the club's inception last year.

Four of the Avalanche fighters – Rogers, Schultz, T.J. Woodman and Stefan Brynjolfsson – who went to WarPath MMA in Chilliwack, B.C., on Sept. 2 each returned home with wins.

Rogers' latest win gives the gym an added boost, Schultz said.

"It's just phenomenal. It gives us more inspiration to just keep going, because what we're doing is exactly what we're supposed to be doing to win fights, and everybody now is all pumped, especially for the next fights coming up in December,” Schultz said.

Avalanche MMA will fight next at WarPath 3 in Chilliwack, B.C., on Dec. 2, when the gym hopes to send five fighters, including Schultz's son Ryley Johnson.

With Yukon fighters growing in reputation, Rogers said it's important to remain humble.

"You get cocky, you get caught. I'm still going to go in and train as much as I was before; I'm not going to lose myself and say, ‘I'm the best, I don't need to train anymore,' because I'm not that good. I'm going to go in, I'm going to advance my game, I'm going to see how far it goes,” Rogers said.

"I'll definitely be bringing a good mood into the next fight.”

Besides, he's still new to amateur MMA, an eager fighter looking to rise within the sport.

"Usually I'm one of the first fights on the card, so I'm still fresh to the sport. Anyway you look at it I'm fresh to the sport, so you have to make a name for yourself before you get recognized as somebody that's serious. Hopefully they aren't taking me lightly. But if they are, good for me,” Rogers said.

Now, Avalanche MMA has the momentum Schultz was hoping for when he and his wife Erin started the gym last year.

"I didn't expect it to be this exciting and this good,” Cliff said. "I knew that we would win some fights. I didn't know that we would be 5-0 right now, so it's kind of neat to see.”

He attributed that perfect record to hard training and dedication to the sport.

"They push themselves. We train to win. We're not just training to have a mediocre style. We train to perfect it and to actually push hard and have that heart behind it too,” Cliff said.

Rogers agreed.

"Whitehorse is great, because we're not necessarily the most technical fighters, but you won't find a single guy at the gym that doesn't have the heart to go on. And that's more than half of the game, is the heart, so if you're training with people with a lot of heart, they're not going to quit on you when you need them to be there for you.”

As are Yukon fans, he added.

Rogers said he received a boost after the fund-raiser held at the Roadhouse Bar and Grill leading up to Castlegar.

"I didn't think about anything while I was fighting. Afterwards, just thinking about everybody was huge. It's a sport, and we can't do it without fans and without people that support us. I wouldn't have been there if it wasn't for the fund-raiser. I just wanted to put on a good show and get the win,” Rogers said.

"All the support that we did have from everyone, it was huge to see Whitehorse come out, and it really did boost me up a little bit, knowing that a lot of people are still out there that love the sport too.”

Now Schultz is hoping to bring MMA to the Yukon.

Avalanche MMA is hoping to host a fight early next year, but Schultz opted to wait until the details are set in stone before releasing any information.

But even with the prospect of hosting fights, Schultz could hardly contain his excitement.

"That was my dream. I told the wife when I first started with MMA, I said, ‘I want my own gym and I want to be able to host a fight, a big fight,' and it's coming true. So in the next six months, seven months, it'll be happening. To me it's unreal,” Schultz said, adding that a string of bouts on the road can wear a fighter down.

"Just because you're away from your core group.

"That's why it's so nice to have a bunch of us fighting. We motivate each other so much.

"When there's one or two (traveling) it's kind of hard, you get almost homesick, because you're around so many different people all the time, it's hard to get motivated sometimes, looking around and seeing other people fight, their style and everything, you kind of doubt yourself sometimes without the backing of your core group.”