If all else fails, Soa Palelei will 'just poke him in the eyes or hit him in the nuts'

UFC light heavyweight Soa Palelei is making a quick turnaround by fighting Jared Rosholt two months after beating Ruan Potts, but he hasn’t stopped training between fights.

“On the way to training, I went straight past KFC and had (a meal) for my last time,” Palelei told MMAjunkie Radio.

The 36-year-old veteran wanted an opportunity to fight quickly after his UFC Fight Night 40 win, and so the UFC quickly booked him for Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 43 event, which takes place at Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Palelei (21-3 MMA, 3-1 UFC) vs. Rosholt (10-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) serves as the event’s UFC Fight Pass-streamed co-headliner.

Palelei, who hails from Australia, jokes he might just commit a foul if things don’t go as planned on Saturday. But because his conditioning is where it needs to be, he’s confident he’ll perform at his peak.

“He’s going to be probably weary of me, and I’m going to be weary of him,” he said. “In saying that, we will go in there and throw down. Jared’s going to try to take me into deep water, but I’ve been swimming.

“I’ll try to keep afloat and see what happens. Every fight, I’ve made sure I can go five, six rounds. If the game plan A doesn’t work, I’ll just go to plan B. If plan B doesn’t work, I’ll just poke him in the eyes or hit him in the nuts.”

Rosholt is a former three-time All-American wrestler at Oklahoma State University and will always be noted as a significant threat on the mat. Palelei is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black-belt and wrestled in his youth, but he said he won’t underestimate the threat his opponent presents when they lock up.

“The last time I fought a top-level wrestler was Daniel Cormier, and he kicked my ass, so I want to make sure I don’t get my ass kicked on this one,” he said.

So far, Palelei has been the one dealing out beatings in the octagon. Following a lackluster decision win over Nikita Krylov, which came despite a broken rib suffered in training, he has knocked out his past two opponents, including Potts and Pat Barry. His current winning streak stands at 11 fights.

As a native Australian, Palelei is a potential star as the UFC bolsters its presence in “Australasia.” But he needs perhaps one or two more wins before he gets a high-profile opponent who could earn him a featured spot on a UFC pay-per-view main card.

Rosholt could be a start, but Palelei is realistic about what could happen when fists start flying.

“If it stays standing, Jared is not going to hit harder than Mark Hunt, so it’s going to be an interesting fight, and it’s going to be an explosive one,” Palelei said. “Either I’m getting knocked out, or Jared’s getting knocked out.

“That’s just one of those things with MMA. You just don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t like going to the judges; a lot of my fights don’t go to the judges. Even my last fight, I thought Ruan Potts was a tough guy. I just put my game plan on and execute it very well.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 43, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.