My buddy is looking to go into professional MMA in a year's time.

He's been training for nearly a year already. Any advice that you'd give?

Lifestyle is probably every bit as important as any other aspect.

Nutritious food and regularly scheduled meals (i.e., 3 square meals), enough rest, early to bed early to rise (say roughly 11pm to 6am, just as an example), don't drink, smoke or do drugs too much (preferably at all), schedule your workouts with sufficient frequency and be prepared when you do work out so as to get maximum benefits, regiment your workout schedule strategically.

This is all fundamental stuff, but is of critical importance.

I have broken every rule I have just listed, and have only started strictly abiding by them in the last several months. Nonetheless, for a serious athlete these things are all critical.

^ Good stuff plus I'd always remind him to never slack on cardio and overall conditioning. It's just as important as technique because once your cardio starts becoming shit your technique will suffer.

Technique, Cardio, Pacing, Awareness, Fight IQ. All important.