Kiwi UFC megastar Israel Adesanya is ready to sink his teeth into a new challenge this weekend, when he defends his middleweight crown against Jared Cannonier in the main event of UFC 276 at Las Vegas on Sunday (NZ time).
After consecutive rematches with Marvin Vettori and Robert Whittaker - the former leaving him bored and the latter dissatisfied with his display - the prospect of some fresh meat in the form of Cannonier has Adesanya licking his lips.
"It's new blood and I feel like a vampire right now," said Adesanya. "I'm dark."
"I like having new blood and having to rise to the occasion. That's the difference between me and him. I'm used to the spotlight. I'm used to all of this sh*t. He's not. He's new to it.
"I feel like he's man enough and mature enough to handle it, but not like me."
American Cannonier has long lurked as a potential challenger to Adesanya's throne. He may have had the opportunity sooner but was usurped in the pecking order after his defeat to Whittaker back in October 2020, which ultimately secured the Australian his rematch.
'Tha Killa Gorilla" has since reeled off consecutive wins, earning a decision over Kelvin Gastelum and an eye-catching TKO of Derek Brunson to secure his title shot in a division which is fast running out of legitimate contenders for the unstoppable 22-1 Adesanya.
In New York City three years ago, Adesanya and Cannonier shared a prophetic moment where the champion saw a couple of traits that assured him they'd eventually share the Octagon together.
"Spirit, if I'm being honest. His fighting spirit and his essence," he recalled. "I recognise that because I'm an empath myself. I can kind of feel the energy from a great man and a great fighter.
"I like to take care of these guys. I call out all the greats. I saw that early on in him before all you guys did. I try to boost him up. He fell short once and then came back and proved his worth as the next contender."
The 38-year-old Cannonier (15-5) is a package of explosive athleticism and power punching but is widely expected to present minimal threat to Adesanya's 11-fight undefeated streak at middleweight, with sports books putting him at long odds to have his hand raised this weekend.
'The Last Stylebender' himself agrees with those projections, insisting Cannonier won't bring anything to the table he hasn't seen - and handily dealt with - through spectacular five years plus on MMA's biggest stage, dismissing the ever-present suggestion he'd be at a power disadvantage.
"I feel like he poses a danger the same way all my past opponents pose dangerous threats," Adesanya said.
"They keep talking about, 'power, power, power'. Have you ever heard that before when someone fights me? 'Oh, power this. power that.' It's the same old song. F*cking get it off repeat. Pick a new song.
"If I get caught slipping that's on me..but there's nothing he does that I haven't seen before. Not even in the grappling."
Cannonier recognised trying to engage in a kickboxing contest against the supremely technical Adesanya would be fatal to his chances of victory, suggesting he'll try to turn the bout into a scrappy affair while hunting an opportunity for a kill shot.
"It could be a clean fight if one can control that torrential ocean of techniques that he's throwing at you," Cannonier said. "That's a tall order right there. That's a tall task to do.
"But it's possible. I don't need to throw as many techniques as he’s throwing at me to make it work, too.
"So I plan on using all the right skills, all the right techniques to make the fight that I can be the beneficiary of the exchange here. I could touch him once and put him to sleep, that's perfect for me."
And if Adesanya is able to successfully defend his belt for the fifth time on Saturday, he may know his next opponent before he even leaves the Octagon.
Alex Pereira will take on Sean Strickland on the undercard in what shapes as a title eliminator. Pereira comes with a readymade narrative of having beaten Adesanya twice during their days with the Glory Kickboxing promotion, and UFC president Dana White admitted - if the Brazilian gets past Strickland - a title shot would "make a lot of sense".
Adesanya said he'd also welcome the "little step brother I never wanted" Strickland as a challenger if he were to prevail in what should be a tightly contested fight.
Either way, the 32-year-old has almost lapped the competition at 185lbs and he's far from done, as he tries to add another scalp to his rapidly expanding CV.
"People pick and choose their opponents on the way up to the UFC because they want to pad their records. When I'm in the UFC, I pick and choose my opponents because I want to pad my records with legit contenders. So I picked and chose them a while back.
"I'm glad they didn’t fumble this time and he made it to the dance, so here we are.
"I'm just going to show off and show out - that's what I do."
UFC 276 also features two of Adesanya's City Kickboxing teammates, with Kiwi Brad Riddell taking on Jalin Turner in the featured bout of the preliminary card, while Aussie Alexander Volkanovski faces Max Holloway for a third time in defence of his featherweight title.
Join us at 12pm, Sunday for live updates of UFC 276: Adesanya v Cannonier
