Hometown hero Richard Kiely is aiming to cause one of the greatest upsets in European MMA history when he takes on 14-1 prodigy Michael 'Venom' Page at Bellator Dublin tomorrow night.
The welterweight clash will see two kick-boxing superstars go toe-to-toe in a co-main event bout at the 3 Arena in undoubtedly the toughest fight of Kiely's four-fight career.
And 3-1 Dubliner Kiely is a 4/1 underdog with bookmakers, but insisted when speaking to Irish Mirror that he was confident in picking up a win despite his underdog status tag, saying: "I feel great.
"Ask him if he feels the same, I'm sure he'd give some generic response saying he's great too but mark my words he is nervous.
"He's going in against a 3-1 fighter, but this 3-1 fighter is like nobody he has ever faced before because I move faster, hit harder and I've got in his face.
"I'm as ostentatious, arrogant, as he is and this time he's the nail not the hammer and he is distinctly uncomfortable by it.
"It comes across in his interviews and his press conferences, and on Friday night everybody is going to see it come across in his fighting."
The Tallaght native brought his son Derry along to the opening of coach John Kavanagh's new SBG Ireland headquarters, and says they will spend the following day celebrating a win together.
But first he has to get through a man who has wins over the likes of Cyborg Santos and Paul Daley as well as an impressive boxing and kick-boxing resume.
So what's next for the cocky Irishman?
"I do this for the craic," Kiely joked when discussing his MMA career. "When I signed for Bellator, I decided I was going to come in and cause chaos and pandemonium.
"That's what I've done after one fight I've thrown a grenade into the welterweight division and I've blown the whole thing up.
"I'm fighting one of the biggest names in global MMA, the poster boy for this promotion and that's just one fight in.
"Imagine what I can do after two fights, three fights.
"Bellator doesn't know what to do with me, I'm the renegade of Irish MMA, the renegade of Bellator and I'm about to become the renegade of global MMA."
Tickets for Bellator Dublin are on sale now through Ticketmaster.ie and Bellator.com , as well as the 3Arena box office.
If you haven't already, be sure to like our Irish Mirror Sport and Irish Mirror GAA pages on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
