After his dominant return to the UFC last month, where he dispatched Ike Villanueva inside one round via a brutal knockout, Australian light-heavyweight Tyson Pedro did all the things he thought he was going to do.
He celebrated inside the cage, soaked in the moment, enjoyed the victory and headed backstage a winner in his first fight in 1196 days.
Then he went backstage and burst into tears.
"It was like climbing a mountain and being at the top. I don't know if it was relief so much as pride, accomplishment – I did it, I came back," Pedro said.
"I knew I was where I was supposed to be."
It was a long way back for Pedro after almost four years on the sidelines after a series of knee injuries which began in his loss to the legendary Mauricio "Shogun" Rua in December 2018.
Pedro freely admits he didn't just lose his way during his long sabbatical, he lost himself. Even when he was healthy enough to return to the Octagon, he almost didn't do it.
"There was just times where my family was unhappy with me, I was self-sabotaging, even if I stuck to training I wasn't being the best version of myself," Pedro said.
"As soon as the fight was announced there was almost a full panic attack, and I did the same thing, I self-sabotaged.
"My family didn't want me to fight, it was too much. But I realised what that feeling was – I was scared it was finally real after so long, there was too much emotion.
"But once that cleared I was in kill mode, and I've never felt better. The win didn't mean so much as getting in there and proving to myself I could fight at this level.
"When you're in a hole you don't know you're in a hole until you come out of it."
Now Pedro is back, and he's aiming straight for the top. He didn't stay idle during his absence – Pedro launched Drink West, the beer he owns with fellow UFC fighter Tai Tuivasa, and he'll be part of the ABC's That Pacific Sports Show as a reporter when it returns to the air in June.
But Pedro still knows what he wants more than anything else. He's keen on returning to the cage as soon as possible, and is hoping to fight on the Paris card in September, which rumour has it will be headlined by Tuivasa's bumper clash with former heavyweight title challenger Ciryl Gane.
Pedro believes he was brought on too quickly in his initial UFC run, with his inexperience contributing to some of his losses where he'd often dominate early before losing his way.
He's a different fighter now and is constantly improving, with sessions under City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman, who has helped Israel Adesanya and Alex Volkanovski claim UFC titles, putting the finishing touches on his strong all-round game.
At just 30, Pedro is a young man in an old division and can see a clear path to the top of the light-heavyweight.
"I need to build up and then fight the best guys – even though I know I'm a completely different person, and that this version of myself doesn't lose some of those fights and some of them were close, some of the stuff I was doing was kind of amateurish because I'd rush," he said.
"But that comes from wisdom, from learning, and I'm ready for it now.
"There's some great fighters, but the division is open. There's a chance for someone to drive straight through.
"I want to take it slow, but you get two hot wins in a row and they say 'f**k it' and you're taking on ranked fighters and I'm always going to take a tough fight.
"That hasn't always worked for me in the past, but I think it will this time."
