The cerebral American Michael McDonald has impressed everyone in the buildup to this weekend's UFC interim bantamweight title bout with Renan Barao.
His understated, yet matter-of-fact, approach to the bout, coupled with his superb boxing and mixed martial arts skills, has led to many tipping him to upset the defending interim beltholder Barao, who is undefeated in his last 29 fights.
That streak, however, doesn't faze McDonald, who acknowledges his opponent's superior athleticism, but states: "But to use that athleticism, you first have to get past my martial arts."
The American comes into Saturday night's main event bout on an eight-fight win streak, with his most recent victim being the former WEC world champion Miguel Torres, who he dispatched via first-round knockout, in April last year.
And rather than adapting his game to suit Barao, McDonald simply plans to step inside the Octagon and fight off the cuff, playing out the entire bout as he sees it at the time.
"I feel the best way to perform at your best is just to be yourself, enjoy it [and] don't look at the even and how big it's going to be.
"He is unique. I think he does what he does very well, and different from other people. So I definitely think it'll be a challenge. I think it'll be fun."
McDonald's bout with UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao is the main event of UFC London, which takes place at Wembley Arena on Saturday night.
Prelims start on www.facebook.com/ufc from 5:15pm on Saturday night. The main card kicks off live on ESPN UK from 8:00pm.
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