This is it for Glover Teixeira (32-7).
Back in 2014 he unsuccessfully challenged then-champion Jon Jones for the UFC light heavyweight title.
Now, 2,744 days later, he gets his second and final shot against champion Jan Blachowicz in the main event of UFC 267 in Abu Dhabi.
Watch UFC 267: Blachowicz vs Teixeira LIVE on Main Event available on Kayo and Foxtel, Sunday 31st October from 5am AEDT. ORDER NOW >
At 42 years old and riding a five-fight winning streak, Texeira has rallied late in his career to get to a position few expected he would find himself in again.
After all, the 14 UFC fights between title opportunities is the most ever for a challenger going after the same title according to ESPN.
It has been a long wait but will be well worth it for Teixeira, who made big changes in his lifestyle choices to spark the comeback.
“I don’t have a problem with alcohol, I just like to have fun,” he told Main Event’s ‘Fight Week’ in the lead-up to Sunday’s bout.
“That affected my performance after a while. I had some ups and downs. I trained so much but off camp between fights that was my problem, I didn’t live like an athlete.
“Even though I’d do eight weeks of camp to cut all the weight, it gets tough with age. I wanted to become a champion and I had to do what I had to. I had to discipline myself.”
UFC 267 GUIDE: Beast returns, Kiwi’s huge shot as 81-year-old title fight stuns
Blachowicz though is ready to play spoiler.
The Polish star already did it when he defeated Israel Adesanya in a unanimous decision victory at UFC 259.
It caps off what is a stacked main card full of intriguing fights.
Petr Yan will be after redemption for his disqualification that saw him lose the bantamweight belt against Aljamain Sterling.
Yan sees the light side of it now, recreating that knee during an open workout this week but his opponent Cory Sandhagen is not laughing.
“It was a huge mistake [by Yan], ”Sandhagen told Yahoo Sport earlier this week.
“You can’t make that mistake in a championship fight like that.”
Now it is on the pair to settle their differences in the octagon with the interim bantamweight championship on the line.
The other highlight fight sees Kiwi Dan Hooker – a self-described “animal” in the cage – in a crucial showdown with Islam Makhachev.
It is just a month since Hooker beat Nasrat Haqparast in Las Vegas and now he will face off with Makhachev, who is coached by former UFC lightweight king Khabib Nurmagomedov.
In fact, Makhachev is widely billed as the next Khabib and enters on an eight-fight win streak.
Hooker is ready to put an end to the hype and boost his own title hopes.
Follow all the action in our LIVE BLOG further below!
In the meantime, here is everything you need to know ahead of Monday morning’s event.
START TIME IN AUSTRALIA
The prelims will begin at 1.30am (AEDT), with main card getting underway at 5am.
HOW TO WATCH
Watch UFC 267: Blachowicz vs Teixeira LIVE on Main Event available on Kayo and Foxtel, Sunday 31st October from 5am AEDT. ORDER NOW >
FULL CARD
Main Card
Jan Blachowicz (c) vs. Glover Teixeira (1) — light heavyweight title
Petr Yan (1) vs. Cory Sandhagen (3) — interim bantamweight title
Islam Makhachev (5) vs. Dan Hooker (6) — lightweight
Alexander Volkov (5) vs. Marcin Tybura (8) — heavyweight
Li Jingliang (11) vs. Khamzat Chimaev — welterweight
Magomed Ankalaev (7) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (8) — light heavyweight
Prelims
Amanda Ribas (10) vs. Virna Jandiroba (12) — women’s strawweight
Ricardo Ramos vs. Zubaira Tukhugov — featherweight
Albert Duraev vs. Roman Kopylov — middleweight
Elizeu dos Santos vs. Benoit Saint-Denis — welterweight
Shamil Gamzatov vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk — light heavyweight
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Lerone Murphy – featherweight
Hu Yaozong vs. Andre Petroski — middleweight
Magomed Mustafaev vs. Damir Ismagulov — lightweight
Tagir Ulanbekov (15) vs. Allan Nascimento — flyweight
FOLLOW THE ACTION IN THE LIVE BLOG BELOW! Can’t see it? CLICK HERE!