Having watched Anthony Smith hand his teeth to the referee during a bout last year to continue fighting, Australia's Jimmy Crute knows it's going to take a lot to stop his next UFC opponent.
Crute is lining up for the biggest test of his career, taking on No.6-ranked light heavyweight Smith in Jacksonville, Florida later this month.
The pair are the first fight on the main card of UFC 261, which includes three title fights including a rematch of Kamaru Usman and Jorge Masvidal with Usman's UFC welterweight title on the line.
Victorian Crute (12-1-0) was supposed to fight Johnny Walker last month before the Brazilian pulled out through injury, with veteran Smith (34-16-0) stepping in.
Last year American Smith was getting pummelled by another Brazilian, Glover Teixeira, and at one point handed the referee his teeth to put in his pocket for safe-keeping.
The fight ended in the fifth round with a Teixeira TKO win, with Smith left on crutches and with a broken nose, broken orbital bone, two missing teeth and a cut under his right eye.
Crute, 25, said Smith was super tough - but thought it could actually be a weakness.
"He's tough as," Crute told AAP.
"He's very durable and I think sometimes that leads him into bad positions because he knows he can take a beating and he will leave openings.
"If I can fight him differently and do the things I plan to do I will put him away."
With two first-round stoppage wins in his last two fights, Crute sees a clash with former title challenger Smith as a real opportunity.
With a seven year age difference, he's expecting Smith might try to be the "alpha bull" in the Octagon.
"He's going to try and put it over the young bull and stamp his authority on the cage or he's going to try and get me tired and leave openings," said Crute, ranked 21.
"Either way I don't think he understands that I'm not just a big heavy hitter and that's going to be his downfall.
"I haven't shown everything I can do in my prior fights - my fight IQ, my angles, my defence - so once I get in there and he feels that he's going to have to dig really deep to find something."
