Chris Camozzi Ready To Play 'Hometown Spoiler' Against Alessio Sakara At BKFC 83

The fight has felt like a long time coming for Camozzi, who has felt linked to Sakara for over a decade. The two fighters briefly overlapped in the UFC roughly 12 years before they meet in the ring on Saturday.

"I've watched him for years," Camozzi said. "That always gets me going, piques my interest. Somebody that I've followed along the way and followed their career.

"My last fight in Florence, the opponent that I was supposed to have throughout camp dropped out, so I actually thought Sakara would've been the replacement on that one. But it's cooler now. We can have a full build-up to it. It's always nice to have a full fight camp for a specific person. I feel great going into this."

Chris Camozzi excited to return to Italy for second consecutive BKFC fight

With a win, Camozzi would become the first fighter to defend the cruiserweight title twice and sees no better place to break that record than in Rome. Camozzi was born in California and resides in Denver, but fully embraces his Italian heritage.

The champion feels that the love is reciprocated, particularly with how passionate the Italian combat sports fan base is. Camozzi felt all the love in his last fight, his title defense win over Ricchi, and was overwhelmed with the local support.

"I got there before the doors opened and the line was around the block already, which you don't see at a lot of events. If you go to Vegas, nobody shows up until the co-main event. The fans were lined up — literally, the line was down the block and they're waiting to get in. The place was sold out. I think they really enjoy it, and Rome is a bigger city than Florence."

BKFC 83 will commence from the Palazzo Dello Sport arena, which seats 11,500. That is more than twice the size of the 5,000-seat Palazzo Wanny in Florence, where Camozzi headlined BKFC 73 against Bicchi.

The fight being in Italy puts Camozzi at a significant travel disadvantage against the Rome-born Sakara. That is hardly a factor in his mind.

"I'm always down to go anywhere; it's fun to travel," Camozzi said. "I always enjoy fight week. I don't cut a lot of weight; I don't carry a lot of stress. For me, it's fun. It's like a trip with all your friends and family that you get to enjoy and get paid."