IT seems that there’s no separating Malaysia’s welterweight star Agilan 'Alligator' Thani from his headphones.

The former ONE Welterweight World Title contender who’s set to make his highly-anticipated return at ONE: LEGENDARY QUEST in Shanghai, China on 15 June cannot live without music and counts his collection of headphones – he has six pairs – as being among his most prized possessions.

“Music is very important to me,” the 23-year-old ONE Championship athlete confessed ahead of his battle against Japanese-Korean martial arts icon Yoshihiro 'Sexy Yama' Akiyama.

“I listen to music every day from the moment I wake up in the morning, to when I go to bed at night. During the day when I’m training, I’ll have music in my ears.”

Agilan wakes up at 4.30am every day, and the first thing on his ‘to-do’ list is usually cardio accompanied by tunes from his headphones.

READ: 'New and improved' Agilan ready to face whatever challenge

Different parts of the day entail different types of music. Whether it’s a hard day at the gym or a week filled with obstacles, most of the songs on his playlist sway towards slow-paced music or rock songs.

“My morning music will feature the more slow songs, in fact, super slow love songs. By the time it hits afternoon, and I’m training, there might still be some slow songs in my ears,” beamed Agilan, who is a big fan of Australian rock band AC/DC.

“I don’t need a fast-paced song to get me pumped. It’s more about being able to feel the groove.”

Sheepishly, the Sentul native disclosed that his girlfriend had been even trying to get him to expand his playlist.

“She’s got me listening to Gentle Bones, a Singaporean singer-songwriter. The music is pretty slow!”

Thani’s love for music is as broad as his desire to perfect the various martial arts he practices at Monarchy MMA.

The 'Alligator' believes that music can benefit athletes, just like how it has assisted him to record seven successive finishes at The Home of Martial Arts.

“You know when you wake up in the morning, and then you get the Bee Gees suddenly come on the radio, and the song is so catchy… you just feel, hey man, I got this.”

“You just feel good. And when you feel good, you can do anything.”

When asked to name a song that has been on the loop lately, Agilan replied: “That Ed Sheeran and Justin Bieber song I Don’t Care. I love the groove! Oh, and Ariana Grande is great too!”