Inspired by combat sports great Mark Hunt's latest slugfest, UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa is looking to make short work of Carlos Felipe early next year and start his climb up into the division's top 15.
Tafa and Felipe will throw down on Jan. 16 as part of UFC Fight Night: Holloway vs. Kattar, the Brisbane-based Tafa setting himself for what will be his first fight in almost a year.
Having lost his maiden UFC bout, Tafa bounced back with a first-round TKO victory over Juan Adams at UFC 247 just before the COVID-19 pandemic really took hold, leaving the 27-year-old with no firm idea of when next he would step inside the Octagon.
"It feels like I haven't fought in years with everything that's been going on with coronavirus and the pandemic, so I'm pumped," Tafa told ESPN.
"It's been a whirlwind of [training], obviously the MMA scene here in Queensland is still growing so it's been challenging. It's been a bit tough because usually I do my camps at Tiger Muai Thai [in Thailand] and with the restrictions I haven't been able to travel, so I've been hopping around a few gyms trying to get some honest work done."
Tafa is the latest Australian UFC hopeful to make the switch from rugby league, following in the footsteps of world featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski and fellow heavyweight Tai Tuivasa. And just like the other two, Tafa says he has found his calling atop the canvas rather than the turf.
In an interesting sidebar, Tafa's Auckland rugby league club also produced Sonny Bill Williams, the man Hunt's conqueror at the Sydney Superfight, Paul Gallen, has long chased for a heavyweight boxing showdown.
"Yeah, I used to play rugby league, that was my passion. I wanted to play footy all my life and it just didn't work out for me. But I was also pretty good at fighting while I was growing up.
"I played for a local footy club, Marist Saints, back in Auckland, they had the likes of Sonny Bill Williams come out of that club and I eventually ended up at the Melbourne Storm. I was in their junior squad, I played a couple of reserve grade games, and that was pretty much it.
"Definitely [MMA is the passion], I think the footy was just a stage of my life. I don't watch footy anymore, I don't care who wins, I don't care who wins State of Origin like I did when I was younger. All I'm worried about now is when's my next fight and when I can put a show on."
Tafa was certainly glued to Hunt's six-round epic with Gallen at Bankwest Stadium, which the combat sports great lost via unanimous decision, but not before he had landed some typically brutal blows.
"I thought Mark won that fight to be honest," Tafa said. "But for Mark, he's 46, in four years he's 50, so good on him for stepping in there and showing us guys he's still got what it takes.
"He's definitely an idol of mine, in 2017 when I started MMA, he took me in and we did six or seven camps with him in the UFC and he showed us how it's done and the mentality that it takes to face the adversity when it comes and what it's like fighting on the big stage."
While a venue is still to be announced for his January bout, Tafa is keen to "put on a show" and doesn't see too much in Felipe's arsenal to be concerned about.
And he has far greater goals for 2021, too.
"He [Felipe] likes to throw with volume, so I just need to manage that pitter-patter that he does and that should be the rest of the fight sorted.
"It's a really important fight. I want to get [2021] off to a good start and hopefully get a top-15 opponent next year."