Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but Wollongong's Justin Van Heerden was happy to settle for an overhand right on Saturday night.
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The perfectly timed shot floored former foe Rod Costa, with one follow-up blow enough for the referee to stop the bout two minutes into the second round of the Eternal 76 featherweight title bout.
It saw defending champion Van Heerden retain his strap and avenge a previous loss to Costa just over 12 months ago, his only defeat in his past eight bouts.
Tell us about what you learned from that loss and what you've to ultimately get revenge here tonight at Eternal 76.
"It's almost two years to the day that we fought last time I was in this building," Van Heerden said post-fight.
"I was on the other end of that. Rod caught me, was able to put me away. As they say, you learn, you don't lose. That was a big process for me to go 'I don't ever want to feel like that again, I don't want that to happen knowing that I didn't turn up'.
"That's what I said in the lead up to this. The circumstances were different, they were so weird, I didn't have my coaches with me, but he was the better man that night.
"He put me away and it sent me back [to work]. I had to learn, had to improve, had to grow and [coach Joe Lopez] has just put so much time and effort into me and made me the fighter that I am now. It's all up from here."
The revenge business has proven fruitful for the 29-year-old, having initially claimed the belt with a win over another man to have previously defeated him in Diego Pereira in December.
Having comprehensively outclass two men to whom he's previously suffered defeat speaks the levels the South African-born father of one has added to his game since shifting to the Freestyle MMA stable two years ago.
"The best decision I've ever made in my life was moving down to Feestyle.
"It was such a crazy decision coming down from Queensland, packing up the car with my little one. She was four months old at the time driving down, not knowing what to expect, not knowing if I could even hang in that sort of environment.
"Who knows what's gonna happen but, I'm sure I drive Joe crazy sometimes, but he's honestly changed my life and he's made me the best fighter I could ever imagine to be."
The five-fight win streak and supremacy over the Australian featherweight scene will out Van Heerden on the cusp of a UFC call-up, be it for the upcoming UFC 293 card in Sydney or a slot on Dana White's 'The Contender' series.
Failing that, Eternal has also locked in a September card that would offer the opportunity for another title defence. Van Heerden insist he's ready for whatever's next, and also issued a fresh call-out to a domestic rival.
"What I'll say is I'm just down to fight," he said.
"I had a busy year last year, I fought four times back to back. I'm ready to do that, get another fight booked. If something else big comes along, cool.
"All I can say is I've beaten the best people in the country, I've fought the best people in the country. I think it's time for me to fight the best people in the world, but I'm more than happy to book a fight on the [Eternal] September card.
"If Abdalla Biayda wants to get his head caved in, come see me."
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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.
