Lightweight rising star Quillan Salkilld broke his foot while producing one of the UFC's all-time great knockouts, and the Australian is prepared to pay the price again in his bid for glory.
Salkilld is already making huge waves despite being only three fights into his UFC career.
The 25-year-old won his first bout in just 19 seconds with a vicious right punch that knocked Anshul Jubli to the canvas.
But Salkilld produced an even bigger highlight in his third fight in October when he unleashed a thumping head kick to instantly knock out Nasrat Haqparast.
The moment went viral in UFC circles, earning Salkilld (10-1) instant respect among his peers.
The West Australian will be back in action at UFC 325 in Sydney on February 1 when he takes on China's Rongzhu (27-6) as the must-watch preliminary act.
The overall card will be headlined by Alex Volkanovski's featherweight title defence against Diego Lopes.
Salkilld's devastating head kick on Haqparast was so brutal it broke his own foot, forcing him into a moon boot for the next month.
A repeat kick will likely break his foot again - but he's not going to let it stop him.
"Sometimes these injuries will come back in the future, when I hit 30 plus, and it'll be one of those recurring injuries, or it will probably re-occur after every fight if I start kicking with it," Salkilld told AAP.
"I'm guessing after every one of my fights, I'm going to be in a moon boot for a few weeks.
"I think you have to be in a fight to actually hurt it again. With shin pads on, and obviously when I'm sparring, I'm not blasting my training partners.
"But yeah, I imagine in a fight, if I blasted another head kick like that, I'd probably re-break it."
Salkilld has seen countless replays of his devastating kick
"That's one that's going to be etched into the UFC highlights for a very long time," he said.
"I'm very happy that I'm going to be part of that and seeing that for years.
"I always envisioned a successful year. It's been a bit more than what I expected actually.
"Especially in the last fight, I got a great opportunity, and I delivered - and that skyrocketed me."
Salkilld is a perfect 3-0 since making his UFC debut earlier this year, and predicts he will need to win another five fights before being in the mix to have a crack at the lightweight title.
