Israel Adesanya performed a dance routine, cart wheels and other colourful moments on his way to the octagon but he believes Robert Whittaker's fate was sealed by a small gesture he made moments before the fight.
The Kiwi fighter pretended to write something down before facing Whittaker which he says was a reference to Japanese anime.
"Have you ever heard about the anime, Death Note?" Adesanya said.
The show features a main character who writes people's names into a book - called the Death Note - and those people end up dying at the hands of a Japanese death spirit, known as shinigami.
"I have a shinigami with me and I just had to write his name," Adesanya said.
"I just wrote his name in the Death Note and those who know the rules of the Death Note know that there's a certain time frame that after your names written in it, the shinigami will get you.
"It is what it is and it happened as it was supposed to be."
Adesanya went on to beat Whittaker with a second round knockout at UFC 243 which saw him become the UFC's undisputed middleweight champion.
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