Ilya Topuria may be the most confident title challenger Alexander Volkanovski has ever faced.
In his first pay-per-view main event, and his first world title match, the 27-year-old made it through hours of media interviews and press conferences with ease this week.
When I asked him: “If I win this weekend…” the Spaniard interrupted me and corrected the question. “When I win this weekend.”
The 27-year-old is so confident that he is already planning his first title defence, which he wants to take place at Real Madrid's beloved Santiago Bernabeu against Conor McGregor.
And with a string of high-profile knockouts to his name, he should be confident.
The cracks didn't appear until after he got on stage for the fight week press conference.
When the raving crowd drowned him out with endless boos, he instantly became angry. Gone is the cool exterior of the dapper fighter wearing nice suits and posing for social media photos with red wine and roses.
Confused, he cursed at the crowd, pulled his finger and shouted at Volkanovski.
It could mean one of two things coming up on fight night.
Topuria can channel this aggression into one of his infamous finishing blows. Or he may let the occasion get to him, and melt under the pressure, as he did in the press conference.
The former makes him one of the most dangerous opponents Volkanovski has ever faced. Where former opponents like Max Holloway are an elite level punching cardio machine, Brian Ortega is one of the best jiu-jitsu practitioners in the UFC, and Yair Rodriguez can knock you out with shots you don't expect, none of them have the ability to do that. A kind of power that Topuria possesses.
And that, according to one former UFC champion, could be the difference.
“Volkanovski wasn't firing people until recently,” Henry Cejudo said in this major announcement. “If he goes there and trades with the matador, Topuria has more power.
“This guy knocks people out, that's the difference. This guy has more anger in his punches.
Cejudo wants to see Volkanovski use his footwork better than he did against Islam Makhachev in the rematch in October as well.
“Lateral movement is key,” Cejudo said. “Bring those fake kicks, inside and outside, and bring the hands slowly once you break that foundation, that's his fight.
“But if it was so linear, like it was against Islam, where it was just waiting, then I think it was a battle of Topuria.
“It's in Volkanovski's hands. He has the ability to make adjustments, and we've seen him change.”
Another major adjustment coming off of Volkanovski's knockout loss to Makhachev and into the featherweight defense this weekend is the reintroduction of Eugene Bareman.
Bareman, the head coach at City Kickboxing in Auckland, felt that holding the Makhachev rematch on short notice was a bad idea, and with previous engagements, he was unable to travel to Abu Dhabi to box Volkanovski.
But this time, he'll be back in Faulk's corner.
“He'll be here, he'll be here in the next couple of days,” Volkanovski said in the key announcement on Wednesday. “He's busy and they've been doing other things on fight week, but he'll be here in the corner for fight day.”
Volkanovski spent several training camps at City Kickboxing during his title run, but does all of his training at his Windang gym these days.
Bareman, who guided Israel Adesanya to the middleweight title, is a vital voice in the corner, working alongside Volkanovski's longtime trainer Joe Lopez.
“Everyone is doing their part, we are a team and we stick together,” Volkanovski said. “We have group chats where we plan the game, send contest shots and go over things we can change.
“Everyone puts in their two cents.”
