UFC star Soa Palelei wants to go on the The Voice after fight career

SOA “The Hulk” Palelei has always delivered sweet chin music in the UFC Octagon and he wants to take that to another level when his next career kicks off.

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HE IS one of the most brutal heavyweight fighters in the UFC, but Soa Palelei reckons he could be better suited to the battle rounds of The Voice.

The 38-year-old heavyweight from Perth will fight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva in the biggest fight of his life at UFC 190 in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday morning AEST.

He’s hoping to move into the top-10 ranked heavyweights on the planet and end Silva’s career.

At the same time, the man known as The Hulk has some ideas for his next career after the Octagon.

Palelei is already famous for celebrating some of his biggest wins by using his victory speech to serenade UFC fans with some oldschool tunes.

He’s already performed silky renditions of Al Green and Josh Turner.

Now he says he’s somewhat serious about using those talents to win reality TV show The Voice.

“When I was in Japan, apart from nobody speaking English, the strangest thing was that they had karaoke bars on every corner,” Palelei told news.com.au.

“They were everywhere. So after a hard training session, we’d go in there and sing. I love my singing, it’s just something different to give to the crowd.

“You know about The Voice, right? The TV show, we’ll see what happens next year. It’s just a thing that I like doing. I don’t know if any records are going to come out.

“I like singing old-school stuff, like Marvin Gaye and those kind of guys.

“I’ll probably do a duet with either Mariah Carey or Michael Buble.”

If you think he’s joking you haven’t seen him set the Octagon alight after one of his fights.

Palelei, who is coming off a technical knockout win over American Walt Harris in November, has also dipped his toes into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, appearing in the movie Son of a Gun alongside Ewan McGregor.

Don’t let his celebrity and winning grin fool you, Palelei is a man to be feared.

His preparation for his fight with Silva, which he admits is the biggest of his career, included a 12-week training camp in Thailand with heavyweight legend Mark Hunt, one of the heaviest hitters in the UFC.

Taking punches from Hunt during sparring sessions is the reason Palelei is so confident he is ready for whatever Silva, a former heavyweight title contender, can throw at him.

“No one can hit like Mark,” Palelei said.

“I can definitely take punches and no one hits harder than Mark Hunt. Anything Bigfoot can throw at me, I’ve already felt. Mark wasn’t holding back.

“This is the kind of sport where you have to be smart. To hit and not get hit.

“If the opportunity comes you go for it and if it doesn’t you can’t. In the heavyweight division, anything you throw and connect gets you knocked out. So you can’t say I’m going to go for it and then get hit. Because it’s the last hit you’ll ever feel. You have to punch smart.”

- UFC 190, live Sunday from noon on Main Event

Originally published as UFC star Soa Palelei wants to go on the The Voice after fight career