Either way, get a lot of sparring, bag work and sprinting in before the fight. Don't play by his rules (mma rules) - cheat.
Uh,NO.
IF you guys agree on rules, PLEASE respect them and I will give you a god reason for that:
If you can't beat him with rules, even LESS chance of beating him without rules.
A while back I fought a match and it was limited rules, no eye attacks and no biting.
Well they guy tried for the eyes, which I knew he would so It was irrelevant but I had him in a RNC and he tried to bite, which for anyone that has ever done a RNC and KNOWS how to do it, well tell you is probably the dumbest ****ing thing to do.
That said, I was content on getting him to tap or putting him to sleep, when he tried to bite, I broke his jaw and taught him a lesson, still choked him out and left him there.
Cheating doesn't work and only makes things worse for you.
Psalms 144:1
Praise be my Lord my Rock,
He trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle !