It is safe to say Perth mixed martial artist Soa Palelei's last UFC fight, on June 28 in New Zealand, was a learning experience that has led to not a reinvention, but a reinvigoration for the 37-year-old fighter.
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Over the course of three rounds in NZ, his opponent Jared Rosholt - an American fighter with an impressive collegiate wrestling pedigree - controlled the 36-year-old Australian, keeping the man dubbed "The Hulk" on the canvas and not letting him up.
To say it wasn't a compelling fight would be an understatement. Rosholt dominated the wrestling and clearly won the fight on points, but it was anything but an impressive spectacle.
Until that point, Palelei had been riding an 11-fight winning run – three straight in the UFC - and on Saturday at Allphones Arena in Sydney, he'll look to start that streak again, taking on athletic US heavyweight Walt Harris at UFC Fight Night Sydney: Rockhold v Bisping.
The loss to Rosholt lit a fire underneath Palelei, prompting him to move his fight camp full-time to Thailand, under the tutelage of former UFC fighter Mike Swick at AKA Thailand.
A criticism of Palelei's training camps has been his lack of genuinely skilled heavyweights to train against, particularly in Perth, but following his loss to Rosholt he took steps to rectify this, bringing in a genuine monster – Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari, who has won two world Greco-Roman heavyweight wrestling titles.
Palelei said the Thailand training camp was the best he has ever had, which could mean Walt Harris has a lot to worry about.
"You just focus on training, you wake up, train, eat, sleep, train," he said.
"Amir, he's a two time gold medallist and he's a beast. Having these high level wrestlers, grinding with them every day, it was awesome. I'm glad I did the move and did that so there will be no mistake in this fight.
"In the first week I was there I don't know how many times I got taken down by these guys, but eventually you just get into that groove and start learning their stuff: learning their defense of takedowns and the takedowns themselves. You start taking them down
"I wish I'd had these guys before the Jared fight."
The camp has clearly reinvigorated Palelei, but he is not making the mistake of taking Harris, who has lost his two UFC fights via decision to Rosholt and by knockout to Nikita Krylov, a man Soa knocked out in his return to the UFC, lightly.
"Hes 0-2 and that makes him dangerous. I mean he needs to prove something and he was in the middle of a fight camp when he got the call," Palelei said.
"He's got something to prove and he will need to lay it all on the table and come in to win, that's what he's trying to do.
"Unfortunately, we're in Australia and this is my hometown and he's gonna have a lot of pressure on him. You never know in the fight game but I am ready, I'm on weight and I'm good to go."
Palalei's gameplan is the same as every fight he's ever taken.
Get his opponent down and bury him with heavy punches from the top. With his improved wrestling skills, he is now willing to admit he will be a nightmare matchup for many in the heavyweight division.
"I am scary, because you know 100 per cent that if I get you to the ground there's going to be some problems," he said.
"I'm confident and I'm ready to roll, I can't wait for Saturday. If I come into any fight like this, there's going to be huge problems for my opponent."
A host of other Australian fighters – Robert Whittaker, Jake Matthews, Anthony Perosh, Dylan Andrews, Dan Kelly, Richie Vaculik and Vik Grujic – will be on the card.
The card is headlined by spiteful clash between American middleweight Luke Rockhold and British middleweight Michael "The Count" Bisping, while the co-main event clash between technical boxer Ross Pearson and heavy-handed wrestler Al Iaquinta in the lightweight division is an early pick for fight of the night honours.
