Australian Man’s Heroic Battle with Kangaroo to Protect His Dog –

An Australian man wrestled with a kangaroo to save his dog.

In a now-removed viral TikTok shared by Mildura Martial Arts, a man wades to the middle of a river to confront a muscly marsupial with a pup in a headlock.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) identified the man as Mick Moloney, a mixed martial arts and Brazilian jiu-jitsu teacher who lives in Mildura, Australia.

Moloney told the outlet that he was stretching on the riverbank over the weekend when he realized Hatchi, one of his Akitas, had disappeared.

“I looked [toward the river], and behind these reeds, I could just see this massive kangaroo,” Moloney told ABC, adding that the creature was “standing there with his arms actually in the water just staring at me.”

According to the Mildura resident, “Hatchi came up, and he was in a headlock with this kangaroo.”

“Water was just gushing out of his mouth, and he yelped quite badly,” he added.

Before he began filming, Moloney said he tried to save Hatchi using other techniques — like scaring the kangaroo with loud noises — to no avail.

After his unsuccessful attempts, the dog owner told ABC that he thought, “Alright, I got to get in there,” and approached the tall, visibly strong — or, in his words, “jacked” — creature.

“The muscles on this thing… I was like, ‘This thing’s just got out of jail’ or something,” Moloney said.

In the video, which Moloney said he recorded so people would believe him, the man tells the kangaroo, “I’m going to punch your f—ing head in.”

When the pouched mammal does not react to his threat, he says, “Let go of my dog,” before swinging at the animal. The kangaroo immediately retaliates, knocking Moloney’s phone into the murky water.

After a short scuffle, which was not captured on the submerged device, Moloney picks up his phone and shows that the kangaroo no longer has Hatchi in a headlock. He splashes the creature and laughs before running to his pup, who is now on the shore.

Later, when Moloney and his dog are far enough away from the kangaroo, Moloney, still recording, tells his dog, “Hatchi, not feeling so tough, now are you dude?” and asks his other two dogs, also Akitas, “Where were you to save him? And you?”

“Look, I got frickin’ mauled,” he adds, showing his bloody hand to the camera.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Moloney summarized the altercation while chatting with ABC. “Basically, [I] slapped him across the head, and he jumped me, and we ended up having a bit of a tussle in the water,” he said.

“The kangaroo basically looked like it was about to kick the legs out at me, and I splashed some water in its face and tried to take off, and it had another go at me as I was leaving,” he added. “I got my dog back, that’s the main thing.”

The mixed martial arts teacher told ABC that he “wasn’t trying to be cruel” and loves animals.

He also shared that Hatchi is doing “good” — and he and his pups have no intention of avoiding the scene of the fight in the future.

“I can’t not go that way, ’cause I don’t want the roos thinking that we’re scared,” he told the outlet.

Moloney also said he’s received several messages asking whether he will add “roo-jitsu” to his martial arts curriculum.

His answer? Absolutely not.

“My tussling with roo days are pretty much done, though, ’cause that thing was strong,” he said. “Let’s just call it a draw.”