Kiwi UFC star Israel Adesanya is relishing his self-proclaimed title of the 'dark lord' of the middleweight division.
Adesanya joined the organisation surrounded by hype, and duly delivered with a 'Performance of the Night' win over Australian Rob Wilkinson.
A decorated kickboxing background has meant he's leapfrogged many other fighters in the division, which he believes has created jealousy among the ranks.
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"I'm making more than some of these guys who've been in the company a long time," Adesanya told Newshub.
"I've paid my dues outside the company. I said before I came to the UFC I want to fight the best, and I'm willing to fight the best straight away.
"It's just jealousy, crabs in a bucket and I can recognise jealousy in other men and other people because I've been that person before.
"It is what it is; if you have it, don't try and fake it, just do you and people will flock to you - and if people don't flock with me, they can hate, but they're still going to pay, and they're not paying money, they're paying attention and that's what generates the revenue.
"They can keep getting jealous and they can hate, while I motivate."
Adesanya's most recent victory inside of the octagon came over Italian Marvin Vettori at UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje, earning a split-decision win.
Despite getting his hand raised, Adesanya was less than pleased with the performance, but knows he'll be a better fighter for it.
"I learnt a lot from that fight; they say it's 'either you win, or you learn', but in that fight, I won, and I learnt, so I'm grateful," he told Newshub.
"I won the fight clearly, but if you want to be honest about your performance like I am, that's how you get far, but if you're not honest about your performance and your assessment of yourself, you're going to end up where he is, thinking he won when he actually didn't win.
"I don't give a f*ck about my record; a wise man told me 'records is for DJs', so I don't care about my record. What I was worried about was my money."
If he had it his way and as famously put by him, Adesanya would be fighting current champion Rob Whittaker in the Pak'nSave car park tomorrow, but he knows all too well it's a game of patience.
Despite feeling the heat of some of the other fighters, Adesanya was quick to point out the lack of callouts by any of them.
"Like the rest, they treat me like a dark lord, 'he who shall not be named' to quote Harry Potter and they're scared to say my name because they feel like if they say my name grant us the power but I already have the power.
"I don't need them to say my name, I'm the new dog in the yard, I'm the hot chick in this bar and everyone's looking at me so they all want to f*ck and I might let one get a little taste."
Adesanya does however have eyes for one opponent, and that's Hawaii native Brad Tavares. Despite the jumper in competition in terms of the middleweight rankings, Adesanya doesn't expect Tavares to trouble him.
"A guy like Tavares, I've seen what he brings, I've seen that stuff many times, conventional, he's got some good kickboxing, whatever, I know he's got some wrestling, whatever he brings I've seen before so I know it will be easier than this fight," he told Newshub.
"My last one, I picked him because I knew he was tough, I knew he was young, hungry, so I wasn't going to pick the older guy, I picked the younger guy, go for the challenges and Brad, I like the story already, we're kind of from the same lineage of striking schools, but if he wants to get it, he can get it, but he's not going to get it.
"If I wanted to, I would go for Derek Brunson right now or someone like that, a name, an easy fight, a big name as well, but easy, so I was like they won't give me that because his ranking."
Newshub.
