Australia’s Jacob Malkoun knows the reputation Russian fighters carry into the UFC.
He just reckons the man standing opposite him should have a few concerns of his own.
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The Sydney middleweight, who has worked as a trainer with the Penrith Panthers and Canterbury Bulldogs, faces Abubakar Vagaev at UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi this weekend.
Another win could take him into the division’s top 15.
And while Malkoun respects the grappling game coming his way, he has no intention of spending the build-up worrying about it.
“Everyone’s scared of these Russian guys, but I’m not,” Malkoun told Fox Sports Australia.
“I’m going to throw it all out at him, man. I think he’s going to be surprised with me, and he’s got to worry about me. Not the other way around.
“I’m going to show him some Aussie wrestling. We may not have the credentials they have – but in MMA we can definitely wrestle.”
It is a quietly confident assessment from an Aussie who believes the matchup gives him every opportunity to show how far he has come.
Malkoun expects Vagaev to mix his wrestling with his striking.
He plans to do the same.
And if the fight becomes a test of their grappling, he likes his chances there, too.
“He’s obviously a very good fighter. Probably beat a lot of people in the division, but I’m well prepared, trained really well,” he said.
“Hard to beat me with the game he has, so I’m probably a bad matchup for him.
“I actually think it’s a good matchup. Good fight for both of us, and it gives us the opportunities to show all our weapons.”
Besides, Malkoun has been dealing with a sizeable problem of his own in the training room.
Robert Whittaker.
Asked how he was finding life with his longtime training partner no longer competing at middleweight, Malkoun had a complaint.
“Yeah, it’s just not as fun to train with him now. He’s too big for me. He’s huge,” he grinned.
“It’s hard to train with. So I like when he was at middleweight.
“But now I have an excuse why I lose to him. He’s much bigger than me.
“Before I had none.”
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There will be no such excuses this weekend.
After injury issues interrupted his progress last year, Malkoun says his body is in its best shape for some time.
Initially, he went a little further than that.
“It’s better than ever, to be honest,” he said, before reconsidering.
“Well, maybe not better than ever … but better than what it was for the last few years.
“So coming in, no excuses. Whatever happens Saturday, I’m ready.”
His recent run of wins has helped, too.
While Malkoun does not consider himself a fighter who needs confidence to perform, he acknowledges that getting his hand raised makes the next camp easier to attack.
“Obviously, it never gets easier, you know, the fight game,” he said.
“But getting back-to-back wins, I’m full of confidence.
“I’m not really a confidence fighter anyway, but of course … back-to-back wins makes it easier to train hard and turn up to fight again.”
Now he wants to turn that momentum into a place among the ranked middleweights.
Having spent six years in the UFC, Malkoun believes the opportunity is getting closer – although he knows simply scraping through this weekend may not be enough.
“I’ve been in the UFC for about six years now, so it’s been a long time coming for me,” he said.
“Obviously, I think it all starts with this fight, how I perform here.
“It’s not even just winning; it’s just the performance I put out.
“So, got to go out there, perform, and I think the ranking is not too far away.”
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Asked what separates the fighter he is now from the one who first arrived in the UFC, Malkoun pointed to experience and a growing comfort with his place in the competition.
“This is where I’m supposed to be now,” he said.
“Older, more experienced, more mature.
“I just feel like it’s my time to go now.”