"You can hear that tap forever in your life," Tai Tuivasa says as he describes the sound of bone on skin.
The Australian UFC star is talking about the process of the Tufuga, in which a Samoan tatau master drives a serrated bone or metal comb into the skin with a wooden mallet.
"I nearly passed out at one point it was that painful," he says.
"[But] my Pe'a journey was one of the worst [yet] greatest experiences of my life."
The process can last for weeks over separate sittings of six or seven hours, while the blood and ink mix in little pools over the skin.
Tuivasa was raised in the Samoan church. He is not religious now, he says, but does believe in "a higher power … spirits."
Receiving the Pe'a is part of that belief, drilling into his psyche to another world, where he can connect with his warrior ancestors.
"I felt what my ancestors felt. I went through what my ancestors went through," Tuivasa says, revealing he got the revered tatau for his Samoan Mum.
When he was a kid he saw it on an uncle and she told him "that's what real men get".
He said, "one day I'm going to get that for you".
Tuivasa's dad came to see him receiving the Pe'a. It was the first time he saw his dad cry.
Standing on the cusp of UFC glory
Tuivasa is on the horizon of becoming a UFC superstar.
On Sunday, the 28-year-old — who holds a UFC record of 14-3 — will headline the UFC 209 in Paris against home-town fighter, Ciryl Gane (10-1), with Aussie middleweight Robert Whittaker taking on Marvin Vettori on the undercard.
He is riding a five-win knockout streak and, if he beats Gane, will likely earn a shot at heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou (17-3).
The UFC media apparatus and, in particular, the US fans, have never seen anything like Tuivasa and cannot get enough of him.
His fight walkouts are far from typical, with "soft" songs like Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On dominating the playlist along with a host of late 2000's pop classics, including the Spice Girls, Shannon Noll and Bryan Adams.
The gross-out Australian custom of the "shoey" is also a familiar sight at his fights, with the 188cm, 120kg fighter even encouraging UFC president Dana White to join in.
His overpowering charisma comes from a unique style of laddism.
His subcultural is "eshay", footy boy and west Sydney Islander all mixed into one big lovable human.
He's funny, authentic and doesn't take anything too serious, most of all himself.
That's in direct contrast to his absolute savagery in the octagon, pairing otherworldly speed with a giant physique to present one of the UFC's greatest knockout artists.
Tuivasa's five-fight run of knockouts is the longest active streak in the UFC and just two shy of the record held by long-retired light heavyweight Chuck Liddell.
Cultural impact key for Tuivasa
On his ascent through the UFC ranks, Tuivasa has shown he is deadly serious about representing his culture.
In the octagon, his Pe'a tatau is his most visible feature, the geometric pattern flowing up his thighs, hips, and stomach.
Yet, when he walks out to fight, he drapes himself in the Aboriginal flag and wears a traditional Samoan Kukui nut 'ula.
Tuivasa was raised Samoan but connected with his Aboriginal heritage through his "real mum" in late childhood.
His "Samoan mum" (his dad's wife) raised him and his 13 brothers and sisters, along with his biological mum and a whole lot of other people.
"I grew up in many houses," he says.
"I used to live at my uncles and aunties, my Dad's house, my Mum's house, I was everywhere. I was a c*** of a kid."
Tuivasa, although quick to acknowledge his Dad's achievements, does not speak to him anymore.
"I think once you become an adult you realise a few things, and I'm a mummy's boy," Tuivasa says.
That doesn't mean he does not still hold respect for his dad and his Samoan heritage.
Tuivasa speaks fondly about a trip to Samoa he took with his brothers as a child, saying it made him realise some things about his dad which made him proud.
"Being in Samoa made me realise why he was the way he was, sending money back and family stuff," he says.
"He's got a shop in Laului'i … my dad's pretty high up over there.
"He went from Samoa to New Zealand and New Zealand to Australia and brought all his family along the way.
"As much as my dad and I don't get along, I do realise what he's done and I'm fortunate for it."
They settled in Mount Druitt in Sydney's west, "where everyone is a Pacific Islander," Tuivasa says, including fellow UFC fighter of Samoan heritage, Tyson Pedro, with their fathers knowing each other.
John Pedro is a formidable character, holding at least six black belts in karate and is a Japanese jiu-jitsu master.
Before UFC become more mainstream, Pedro Senior ran an Australian MMA promotion called King of the Cage.
When Tuivasa is asked if he's seen some of the legendary father and son fight antics between Pedro Senior and Junior, he chuckles.
"Yeah, I've seen him knock Tyson out," he says.
Tuivasa and Pedro have been friends since they were 12, when they would talk about becoming famous fighters one day.
However, for most of their early youth they were on different paths and never trained together.
Now though, they have ended up on the world stage at the same time, fulfilling their boyhood dreams together in the UFC.
The pair are tighter than ever and are even in business together, starting a beer company with Penrith Panthers star Nathan Cleary.
The two fighters are family. The mother of Tuivasa's five-year-old son, Carter, is Pedro's sister.
Pedro will be front row in Paris on Sunday along with Carter.
Tuivasa isn't surprised by any of his success, or any of the surreal moments that come with being a top fighter in the UFC, such as fighting in front of former US president Donald Trump.
He says he dreamt all of it before it happened and, from an early age he knew he'd never accept just "getting by" in life.
In his early 20s he got caught up "running amok" in the streets until he became a father.
"Nine months after I found out I was having a kid, I got signed to the UFC," he says.
"Basically, I didn't want to be a shit dad."
Despite his upbringing, he's always felt in control of his destiny and, when he wanted something else, he simply adjusted the sails and set a new course.
"Both my cultures are fighters and survivors," he says.
"My Aboriginal side is the longest living race on earth and my Samoan side has travelled the world many times over.
"I'm born to do this. It is in me."
Now, that course is set for a shot at the UFC heavyweight championship.
