"I remember just walking round the cage, looking at the empty seats in the crowd and I just burst into tears."
Brett Johns has seen many an eventful night in his career, but few were as emotionally charged as that one evening in Raleigh, North Carolina, back in January 2020.
After more than a year out of the cage due to injury, he was pencilled in to mark his UFC return against in-form American Tony Gravely.
Johns won by submission, and pocketed a cool $50,000 for playing his part in the 'Fight of the Night', but the significance of that evening stretched well beyond events in the cage, or indeed money in the bank.
In fact, for Johns to be there at all was a huge achievement.
After slipping to defeat in his last two bouts, he suffered a lengthy lay-off due to a knee injury that would come dangerously close to costing him his career.
As he surveyed the empty PNC Arena hours before his comeback fight, the reality of a long and arduous journey truly hit home.
"Not many people know this story," he says.
"We had an opportunity to go into the cage before the night started. I hadn't had that opportunity for a while. The last time I had that was perhaps back at UFC Belfast when I made my debut.
"I walked in the cage and there was nobody in the arena. Just me and some of my corner.
"Without sounding weird, I felt like I'd spent two or three years of my life thinking 'I'm never going to get back in this cage'. That fight was the finishing touch."
Johns is unlikely to be riding the same tidal wave of emotion when he takes to the cage at Dublin's 3Arena on Friday night, although with the coronavirus pandemic hitting shortly after his return to action, the last couple of years since have been similarly testing.
Having become the first Welshman to break into their talented and world-famous roster, Johns has left the UFC for rival promoter Bellator, and is eager to make his mark after being dealt a couple of further setbacks.
The 30-year-old has taken half an hour to speak to me from his Swansea gym ahead of the fight with Khurshed Kakhorov, and spends much of the interview talking to me from his bizarre 'portable sauna', which looks like a small tent with a hole at the top.
"You're probably wondering why I'm sitting in a big box," he jokes.
The former Cage Warriors and Titan FC bantamweight champion is in playful mood, but the task at hand is clearly a serious one.
Having lost his opening Bellator bout to Danny Sabatello at Bellator 259, Brett was left frustrated further when a fight with fellow UFC veteran Erik Perez fell through last October, and there's seemingly a real itch to set the record straight.
Johns freely admits that it's been a frustrating 12 months or so, but insists he has no regrets over his decision to bring his UFC adventure to an end after nearly six years, with his new employer offering a package he says is better suited to his future ambitions.
"I wanted to be there [in UFC] and make some sort of impact and I personally felt like I did, regardless of what anybody else thinks," he says.
"It's not the end of my career there. Potentially, you never know how this world works, I could be back there.
"I honestly felt like Bellator had come along and was like a breath of fresh air for me. Financially it was better.
"I'm turning 30 and although I'm still arguably young for this game, it's now time to talk about Plan B.
"I call Plan B the escape plan. The plan out of this sport. For that to be a success, financially I need to be stable. I want to be able to pay my house off, so me and my fiancée can have a forever home there. Then we can start looking to invest money.
"I think it's really important for fighters, when they get to a certain age in this sport, to start thinking financially, especially if you've hit that top level."
One can't begrudge Johns for thinking about what comes next. The collection of memorabilia that adorns the walls suggests that there is more than enough in the memory bank to dine out on for years to come.
It's perhaps only fair that his financial bank now follows suit.
But it would be wrong to write this move off as a cushy pay day.
There is a noticeable buzz about him as he discusses his preparations for this fight. The enthusiasm for stepping into the cage and going to work feels like it's working it's way towards a crescendo that he hopes will end in victory come Friday night.
In short, after working his way back from a road paved with frustration and agony, he's well and truly got the bug back.
"I'm a guy who knows that there's bad times in this sport," he says. "But if you keep digging there could be a good thing around the corner.
"Going back to 2018, losing the two UFC fights and then getting injured in the December, having all of 2019 off, I was done then to be completely honest.
"When I came back... no wonder it reduced me to tears. I was crying before the show started. I was crying afterwards. It was all so emotional."
His emotions were perhaps as tough an opponent as Gravely on the night. The Welshman doing his best to fight back the tears when speaking to the press after the fight, particularly when discussing his brother's role in helping to piece his career back together.
"The branding on my head, the frames on the wall, the kit in the gym - all my brother," he adds. "It's nothing to do with me and he does it for nothing. Just to see someone succeed. My whole family have supported me. My mother took two jobs so that I could train full time, but my brother Ashley is the one who comes everywhere with me.
"We've been in the city of New York together, on the beaches of LA, we were sleeping on a race track in Abu Dhabi. All these different things we've done together and he's like that mental coach for me. He's got about 30 different jobs he doesn't get paid for, but he's my mindset coach. I don't think I'd be here if it wasn't for my brother."
Johns' brother has clearly been a highly appreciated emotional anchor during the tough times, but another motivation is the chance to fly the flag for his team, his city, his nation.
"Everything I do is for Wales, hefyd yr iath. I speak the Welsh language and I'll support that until the day I die," he says.
"I'm in a good place now and I've got a good team around me. They've been a massive factor in my life now, mentally and physically about me.
"I'm excited to go represent them, represent my family name and represent the nation of Wales.
"When people talk about the Welsh nation, one of the first words that comes to mind is toughness.
"I think it's the way you're brought up and the toughness that's ingrained in you."
His ultimate dream is to bring an event back to his hometown and the new arena that's set to open its doors later this year, preferably as the headline act.
His love for the city of Swansea is one of the worst kept secrets of his career so far - as too is his passion for Swansea City Football Club.
"The support I get from Swansea fans in general is amazing," he added. "I will follow my team home and away in exactly the same way people follow me home and away.
"That's important. To show people I'm not just a one-man band and I have got support close to home and support my local teams. I'm a proud representative of Swansea and Wales in general."
His appearances at Swansea games have nearly become as notorious as his career in the cage, and even in the midst of preparations for fight night, he's still found time to plan his next trip.
"Bristol looked a good one," he said. "I didn't go down for it because - and I know this sounds silly - but the weather wasn't the best. At the moment I'm quite vulnerable to catching a cold or an illness, and I'm trying to keep away from it.
"But once I'm back from this fight I'm definitely going away. Blackpool's coming up. That's definitely something I'm interested in. A few ciders with the boys? Definitely up for that.
"We're not doing too well at the minute, though. It's nice to see Jay Pato (Jamie Paterson) back in there. We're not a bad side, we just need to get our foot in the door."
The love for the Swans has helped him forge friendships with some of the club's most recognisable faces, including Oli McBurnie and Joe Rodon, with the trio infamously snapped leading the songs in the away end during the South Wales derby with Cardiff City a couple of years ago.
Both Rodon and McBurnie have since left south Wales, but the friendship between the pair and Johns has endured.
"They always keep in touch," he adds. "Joe's doing amazing where he's at, and I speak to Oli a lot online. They've always supported me, no matter what. I'm grateful for that and they're good individuals as people.
"I know that Cardiff fans haven't taken too much of a shine on old Oli, but as a person he's the most genuine down-to-earth guy I've ever met. The same with Joe, the pair of them are brilliant. Together they're hysterical. You can see they've been friends for along time.
"While I'm suffering away this week trying to cut this weight, I know them boys will send me a message. Even if it gives 0.1 per cent of a boost, it's worth it.
"When they have bad days, I'll pop them a message and they do the same. We're three high-level athletes in two different sports, but we're relatable because what we've got in common is that we have the same mindset when we do these things.
"It's not just them, I speak a lot with Connor Roberts, who's another great guy and someone who has done a lot for me behind the scenes without people knowing. The whole team is fantastic."
Swansea too have shown plenty of love for Johns, who was even invited down to the training ground during the Steve Cooper era, where he was given the chance to trump up one of his most beloved pieces of Swans memorabilia.
"When Swansea beat Cardiff down the Liberty when (Ben) Wilmot scored the header, (Andre) Ayew won man of the match and threw his shirt in the crowd," he said. "My brother Ashley managed to catch it and got it framed.
"Then I was invited down the training ground to have a look round the training facilities and see Steve Cooper and the guys and went down there and Andre was there and came straight up and signed the match-worn shirt.
"That's a very special piece to me and my brother. I won't say where it is in case someone tries to nab it! It's a priceless piece of Swans history. It's got the grass stains through it and everything. It's proper."
It's surely only a matter of time before he's spotted in an away end again soon, but for now the focus is, once again, on excelling in the cage, and eventually scaling the heights of a new promoter.
While Bellator 275 is being broadcast live, his fight on Friday isn't on the main card, meaning it won't be part of BBC Three's live coverage, although the more determined fans will still be able to watch on iPlayer.
But while he may feel as though he has nothing more to prove, the man himself clearly still has plenty of motivation to climb the ladder, and establish himself as one of the big hitters once again.
"I've always wanted to be a top-10 fighter in a promotion. I don't think I'm too far away on that," he said.
"Obviously that would be the goal. Get in the top 10, then top five and then eventually fight for a belt.
"I've won two world titles, one for the left shoulder, one for the right, but there's nothing round the waist.
"That's given me that little itch."
You can watch Bellator 275 live on BBC Three this Friday night from the 3Arena in Dublin. Coverage from the main card starts at 9pm. Coverage from the preliminary card gets underway on BBC iPlayer at 6pm.
