A refreshed Israel Adesanya feels like the superhero Blade ahead of his bid to become a three-time UFC middleweight champion.
Adesanya (24-3, 16KOs) hasn't fought since losing by unanimous decision to Sean Strickland in September last year.
The 11-month absence marks the longest break of Adesanya's career, and it allowed him to heal his battered body and do plenty of soul searching.
The 35-year-old declared fans will be blown away by the results when he takes on middleweight champion and arch-rival Dricus du Plessis at UFC 305 in Perth on Sunday.
"I think you guys will see the best me you've seen yet," Adesanya told reporters on Thursday.
"I'm the biggest I've ever been, the most muscular I've ever been.
"I feel faster. I surprise myself sometimes with the speed that I'm hitting with.
"I feel like I'm Blade in this one. So yeah, it's been good to refresh myself and reset myself."
Adesanya has spoken openly about the burnout he experienced following a period of five fights in 18 months.
Playing barefoot golf was among the new things that helped Adesanya regain his mojo during his time away and he feels it's left him well placed to make a successful UFC return.
"I definitely raised the level of athlete that I am by taking this break, by doing the right things, to let my body heal," Adesanya said.
"I had to go through a lot of life stuff and a lot of soul searching, a lot of, 'what do I want from this game? What do I want from life? Where do I see myself? What do I want my legacy to be?'
"All these questions I have to ask myself and have an honest talk to myself.
"Eventually I just knew when I came back, I wanted to be renewed, reinvented. I wanted to be the ... same animal, different beast."
Part of Adesanya's soul searching led him to the realisation that belts no longer matter to him.
Instead, Adesanya wants to rack up "heads", and he would love nothing more than to add du Plessis to his pile.
Before winning the middleweight crown, du Plessis (21-2, 9KOs) riled Adesanya with comments about wanting to become the "first real African champ".
Adesanya, who was born in Nigeria but spent a large part of his childhood in NZ, took offence to that comment given there had already been a number of champions from Africa, including himself.
The pair clearly don't like each other, and they haven't been afraid to express it.
The animosity will add to the tension on Sunday at a sold-out RAC Arena.
Hometown hero Steve Erceg's flyweight battle with New Zealand's Kai Kara-France is also one of the drawcard bouts.
