What Israel Adesanya remembers the most about his UFC debut is how easy it all felt.
Not so much the fight itself, although Adesanya did dispatch Rob Wilkinson in clinical fashion in the second round of their fight in Perth, but what came after.
"What stood out for me was the flow after the fight, the way I was on the mic," Adesanya said.
"It was like I was waiting for this."
Adesanya, who talks smack nearly as well as he fights, rattled off a post-fight interview with Jon Anik where he called out the entire middleweight division and warned them there was "a new dog in the yard".
It sounded like a brag, but it's not bragging if you back it up. And what's the point of a blinding, singular talent pretending to be anything else?
That's how, four years to the day since that night in Perth, Adesanya will walk into his rematch with Robert Whittaker at UFC 271 as the UFC's most famous champion.
Conor McGregor is still the biggest name in the sport, but he hasn't fought for a title for many years now. Neither has Jon Jones or Nate Diaz. Kamaru Usman and Valentina Shevchenko are the only current champions with more title defences, but Adesanya has them covered in terms of star power.
Heavyweight king Francis Ngannou might run Adesanya close, but his lack of activity and clashes with the UFC brass have prevented him from blossoming as a star since he won the belt last year.
Everything about Adesanya – his social media savvy, his incredible striking skills, his ability to needle his opponents, his natural flair and charisma – have combined to make him one of the few UFC stars with genuine crossover appeal.
When you're talking about the best, they don't come any bigger than the Nigerian-Kiwi, and even though he calls himself "The Last Stylebender" he's really the first and only of his kind.
Fate is just a word for some people, but not for Adesanya. Being up the front and wearing the spotlight has always been his destiny.
"I always felt that way as a young kid, I knew I was going to do something crazy, I just knew I wasn't going to be average," Adesanya said.
"I didn't know what it would be, I just knew I wasn't meant for the real world. I had jobs that lasted but they were never fulfilling, because I never wanted to sit behind a desk or work in factory even if it paid well.
"I didn't have a family to feed, so I was selfish with my dreams. I always loved that about myself.
"[My time in the UFC has] been all that and a bag of chips. It's been a wild ride, with some unexpected variables I've had to deal with along with the expected ones.
"But I'm not in jail, I don't have a DUI, I never popped for nothing, even though I love being on TMZ for the wrong reasons."
Adesanya wears his stardom so lightly it does seem like he was born to it. Where others are weighed down by the pressure and scrutiny of fame, Adesanya welcomes it. No moment is ever too big, no pressure is too great, no stakes too high.
You get the sense that what happened to Whittaker in their first bout, when the verbal sparring rattled the Australian to the point that he now feels he lost the fight well before Adesanya's second-round knockout, could never happen to Adesanya himself.
He is too certain, too sure of who he is and what he wants and how he's going to get it, to ever be rattled.
That certainty is an acquired skill for Adesanya, forged in his youth in New Zealand and honed during his kickboxing days. After he spent some time living in China, where the fans called him "Black Dragon" and he stood out everywhere he went, he was used to having all eyes on him.
"I haven't always had it, I had to develop it through positive self-affirmation. My history of living in New Zealand and getting picked on for being a black boy, you don't get people talking you up all the time," Adesanya said.
"Nobody is going to give me the love I need, so I have to give it to myself.
"Like I said from the start, pressure makes diamonds and I still have that same energy now I'm shining. It's reps, from being in China and climbing the ranks through King of the Ring, gaining some notoriety.
"Living in China got me ready for fame, being stared at all the time, because in China they don't see many tall black boys. I'm a wild boy, but I'm smart with the way I play.
"Right now I'm walking around King's Landing in Auckland in bare feet buying breakfast. I still run around with no security during the day, but sometimes I need it at night.
"There's times I need to move differently so I move different. But right now I'm alone, bare feet, I'm wearing f***ing basketball shorts and a Dennis Rodman shirt, I'm a regular bloke.
"But at the same time I know I'm different to most people, if that makes sense. That's not from an egotistical standpoint, that's just me."
Adesanya will once again bring his bulletproof confidence into his rematch with Whittaker, who has pledged to bring a different approach to the one that lost him the title back in 2019.
Since then Adesanya has stayed unbeaten at middleweight, with his sole professional loss in MMA coming when he took on light-heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz in an attempt to claim belts in two different weight classes.
When it comes to the middleweight division, Whittaker and Adesanya are far ahead of the rest. In all his title defences, Adesanya has either cruised to victory, like he did against Marvin Vettori and Yoel Romero, or destroyed his hapless opponent, like he did against Paulo Costa. Now he is back to where he started, with Whittaker in his way.
A more cautious, composed Whittaker could offer a unique problem, but Adesanya isn't sweating it for a moment. He'll have his plan, but if he needs to he can throw it out the window the second the cage door shuts in Houston.
That's how he did it in their first fight. In front of almost 60,000 people, the largest crowd in UFC history, in the biggest moment of his fighting life, Adesanya trusted himself to wing it.
"I called an audible. I didn't follow the game plan exactly, I still listened to my corner but I called an audible and I fought a little bit reckless, which I felt was right for that fight," Adesanya said.
"My coaches didn't even freak out. The reason I did it was because he was blitzing me and I wanted to show I could match his energy and go blow-for-blow, and I did.
"I'm so sure of myself and they're so sure of my belief in myself they trust me with that."
Whittaker's mindset after losing to Adesanya was that neither of them were anything special, they were both just men and men can always be beaten. It might be enough for him to spring the upset.
But Adesanya doesn't think he's special, he is certain of it. And that certainty makes it real for him. He has been waiting for all of this.
A second victory over Whittaker would mean the viable contenders at middleweight would be fast running out. But even if there may well be no more worlds left for him to conquer at middleweight, Adesanya won't weep. He'll still be up the front, where he's always belonged.
