There's not a whole lot of new experiences the MMA game can throw his way, but the raucous reception that's sure to greet his ring walk on Sunday will be a first for UFC pound-for-pound king Alex Volkanovski.
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Already considered by many the GOAT of the featherweight division, Volkanovski will be chasing immortality when he faces Russian destroyer Islam Makhachev in Perth for the UFC lightweight strap.
Victory would see him enter rare company as a two-division title-holder, but never before has such a bout seen the consensus No. 1 and No. 2 ranked pound-for-pound fighters scrap over a strap.
The ease with which Makhachev (23-1) has run through previous opponents, including previous long-reigning lightweight champ Charles Oliveira in October, leaves Volkanovski a despised outsider beyond Aussie shores.
It will matter little to the 15,000-strong home crowd in Perth that will bring the atmosphere to the 34-year-old's first bout on Australian soil since February 2018 - also in Perth.
For an indication of just how long ago that was in career terms, his TKO win over Jeremy Kennedy was the third-last bout on the free-to-view prelim card.
The reception he gets will reflect his present status as the best fighter on the planet, but Wollongong's fighting pride is adamant it won't see any shift in his mentality.
"I'm the type of guy that will make anything work for me," he said.
"If you're going to boo me, I'll use that as fuel. Being back here, these [home] fans are going to give me a lot of fuel. I'll use that too.
"I don't zone that out, but I find that perfect balance.
"I've learned I fight better, not emotional, but fired up. I'm way more confident, I've still got the composure, I see everything, I fight what's in front of me, I'm sharper.
"I used to pull myself back from all that [emotion], but my last few fights, I've really realised that having that fire helps me."
It certainly proved the case in his five-round dismantling of former rival Max Holloway in July last year.
That performance rendered the parochial pro-Holloway crowd mute, with Volkanovski saying those fans merely provided a rod for their own man's back.
"I usually have to try and fire myself up, especially the last fight against Max," he said.
"I just thought 'f---k it, you wanna boo me, I'll f---ing show you. I wouldn't say I took huge risks, but I went at it a lot more.
"Against [Korean] Zombie, I was on, but I wasn't fired up. I was just that much better than him.
"For Max, I knew I needed to fire myself up. That's why I was in there [yelling] and all that stuff because I had to pump myself up.
"I fight best with that fire in the belly. Having the [home] crowd this time is definitely going to add to that, so I'm going to control that, use it the right way, and I'll probably find something from Islam [beforehand] to piss me off."
He won't need to look far, with Makhachev refusing to refer to the featherweight champ as anything other than "the short guy" and roundly dismissing his grappling credentials.
"That's good, I hope he's smirking at me, I hope he's calling me short," Volkanovski said.
"I want him doing all that stuff. There's got to be a little bit of f---you about it. That's when I do my best work."
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Mitch Jennings
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
Sports writer. Sport is my passion, rugby league my first love.
