A Tongan-Australian mixed-martial arts fighter Soa “the Hulk” Palelei, knocked out an opponent in a major Ultimate Fighter Championship (UFC) event in Wisconsin, America on Saturday August 31.

The thirty-six year old Palelei, who hails from New Castle in Australia, was featured in a preliminary heavyweight bout of the highly anticipated UFC 164, a series of mixed-martial arts title fights.

The notorious but popular sport of UFC mixed-martial arts has gained a cult following in the United States, entertaining spectators to bouts of cage fighting, which involves opponents punching, kicking and wrestling each other in an octagon ring.

Palelei who has a fighting record of 19 wins and 3 losses, was matched up against a Ukranian fighter Nikita Krylov. The referee stopped the fight in the third round of the bout, after Palelei landed a series of strikes, and was declared the winner by technical knockout.

Although the fight has been described as “sloppy” by the media, the result is Palelei’s ninth consecutive win and it is being considered the beginning of a comeback by Palelei, whose last UFC bout was in 2007.