UFC Perth: Maddalena vs Prates - May 2 🇦🇺

[wandshogun09]

G’day Sheilas and gentlemen…

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Jack Della Maddalena vs Carlos Prates

Beneil Dariush vs Quillan Salkilld 

Tim Elliott vs Steve Erceg 

Marwan Rahiki vs Ollie Schmid 

Shamil Gaziev vs Brando Pericic 

Tai Tuivasa vs Louie Sutherland 

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Cam Rowston vs Robert Bryczek 

Junior Tafa vs Kevin Christian 

Jacob Malkoun vs Gerald Meerschaert 

Colby Thicknesse vs Vince Morales

Wes Schultz vs Ben Johnston

Jonathan Micallef vs Themba Gorimbo 

Kody Steele vs Dom Mar Fan

 

I wouldn’t say it’s a ‘one match show’ but that main event is clearly doing most of the heavy lifting here isn’t it? Tremendous headliner for a Fight Night. Couple of decent fights sprinkled throughout the undercard as well. Not the best card but it’ll pass a week before we get to the real stuff in May with 328 and the Rousey vs Carano show the following two weekends. Oh and one little bonus for this card, it’s on nice and early for us. Unlike the Aussie PPVs which have been on at the normal US time, so middle of the night UK time…this card actually starts at 9am here! With the main card kicking off at 12pm. Which means Maddalena vs Prates should be getting underway somewhere around 2pm Saturday afternoon UK time. Lovely stuff.
 

 

So yeah, Jack Della Maddalena vs Carlos Prates is a belter of a main event, isn’t it? About as strong a Fight Night main event as you can really get in 2026. And on top of that it’s gonna be in front of a proper crowd. And on top of that it’s a homecoming for JDM so the crowd is gonna be extra invested for this one. Maddalena’s still at #1 in the Welterweight rankings, having just lost the title. Prates currently sits in the #5 spot. Should be exciting to watch for however long it lasts as well. It’s probably safe to assume these two are just gonna go out there and try to knock each other’s heads off.

Maddalena was actually born in Perth and trains in Perth so I’m guessing he lives in Perth. There’s no mistaking whose side the crowd is gonna be on here. He’s 29 years old, 18-3 with 14 not seeing the scorecards and he’s gone 8-1 in the UFC since debuting back in 2022. He had quite a run for a while, winning eight in a row. The title shot came around quick for him though. He beat Kevin Holland on points and stopped Gilbert Burns and next thing you know, he’s in a title fight against Belal Muhammad in the main event of the Montreal PPV last May. It wasn’t the original plan though. He wasn’t supposed to get the title shot yet, he was probably still one big win away. He was actually supposed to headline against Leon Edwards on the London card in March 2025 but Shavkat Rakhmonov (who was supposed to challenge Belal) got injured and the matchmakers had to shuffle things about. JDM ended up battering Belal over five rounds to become champ.

It was short lived though. He made his first defence on the MSG card in November, welcoming Lightweight king Islam Makhachev to 170. And Makhachev wrestled him into oblivion and snatched the title off him. Bit of a disaster for JDM that. There’s no shame losing to one of the pound-for-pound best in the sport but he got dominated to the point it felt like a massive weakness in his game was exposed. I felt like some of the criticism was a bit harsh though myself. People were shitting all over him, saying he had no grappling etc. But the fact is, while he got schooled, he survived 25 minutes of Makhachev mostly on top of him. The likes of Oliveira and Poirier weren’t able to do that. If he truly had zero grappling, he would’ve been subbed within a round or two. The problem was he couldn’t stop the takedowns. Once they were on the ground, he defended well. But his inability to defend the takedown meant he repeatedly got outpositioned and controlled. He’ll still have fun fights, this should be one of them. But it must’ve been a real frustrating loss for him.

Brazil’s Prates is 32 years old with a record of 23-7, 21 finishes, 18 by knockout. He’s been one of the most entertaining fighters on the roster since arriving in the UFC back in early 2024. His first year in the UFC he went 4-0 with four knockouts, including KOs over Li Jingliang and Neil Magny. He dropped a decision against Ian Garry last April but then redeemed himself big time with back-to-back Knockout Of The Year contenders in August and November. First, he absolutely obliterated Geoff Neal with a highlight reel spinning elbow finish. Then at MSG in November…

He brutally chinned Leon Edwards in devastating fashion. That was the first time Edwards had ever been stopped via strikes in his career. Easily the biggest name win to date for Prates. By far. He’s crammed a lot into a two year stint in the UFC. Not only has he been active, he’s been mostly winning. Like I said, his only hiccup in the UFC so far has been that points loss to Ian Garry. And even that, he had his moments at the end of the fight.

Feelings on this? It’s gonna be fun either way but I’m not sure how it’s gonna go. I’m expecting the general consensus among fans and media going in is probably gonna be to favour Prates because he’s coming off those two big KO wins and JDM just got ragged about by Makhachev for five rounds. But it’s worth remembering the old ‘styles make fights’ thing. On paper, style-wise this fight is much more up JDM’s street than the Makhachev fight was. Win or lose, this is more his style. If Prates does win this fight though, especially if he scores another knockout, I don’t know, I wouldn’t be all that shocked if he gets fast-tracked to the title shot. Everyone is assuming Garry and Michael Morales are ahead of him, and they might be, but would it still be cut and dry if Prates were to spark Maddalena here? Garry does have that win over Prates but he’s coming off a snoozer decision over Belal. And Morales is looking like a monster but only has one truly great win over Sean Brady, as well as a demolition job on a shot Gilbert Burns. If Prates leaves Perth with consecutive stoppage wins over Neal, Edwards and JDM…he’s got as strong an argument as anyone to me. The fight being in Perth will be special for JDM but could bring a lot of pressure as well. Coming off losing the belt in a one-way traffic fight, then fighting at home in a rebound against a knockout artist? It’s either gonna be one of the best rebounds ever or a crushing hometown defeat.

 

Beneil Dariush vs Quillan Salkilld is the co-main and, maybe I’m off base here, but this feels like sending an old grey haired lamb to the slaughter to me. I know Salkilld is still relatively unproven yet and there are still questions for him to answer and tests he’s gotta pass. But this really does just feel like bad news for ol’ Benny D, doesn’t it? He turns 37 a few days after this fight, he’s actually not ancient or anything like people make out. But clearly his best days are behind him and we’ve seen a few times now that he’s somewhat susceptible to getting waffled early.

That’s literally how we last saw him. He got his chin cracked by Benoit Saint Denis on the MSG card in November. Just 16 seconds into the fight. We’ve also seen Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan put him out early in recent years. Those three losses were three of his last four fights, the only win in that stretch came against Renato Moicano by decision. He’s got some skills but he’s obviously a slow starter and that’s only became more amplified as he’s gotten older and been mixing with top guys.

Salkilld is Aussie, fights out of Perth, is 26 years old and 11-1 with 8 of his wins coming inside the distance. He got his foot in the door off a win on DWCS in 2024, made his Octagon debut in early 2025 and he went 4-0 with three finishes in an 11 month span. Granted, none of the wins were over top level opposition. It’s all early days for Salkilld. Wins over Anshul Jubli and Yanal Ashmouz didn’t tell us much really but his headkick KO over Nasrat Haqparast in October was legitimately one of the scariest knockouts I’ve seen in all my years watching MMA. Watching live I honestly thought Haqparast might be dead. He subbed Jamie Mullarkey with a nasty neck crank last time out on the Sydney card in January. Again, didn’t tell us much because Mullarkey is a bit of a no hoper. But Salkilld steamrolled him how any rising prospect should. It was clear he was due a step up. Dariush is definitely that on paper. But I don’t know. Maybe his experience will get him through and he’ll give Salkilld a proper test. But I can’t help thinking he’s gonna eat canvas again here. And early.

 

Tim Elliott vs Steve Erceg could be a cracking fight but I’m just not sure what we’re getting out of Erceg at this point. Which is mad really because Elliott is the one who’s 39 years old, which is practically an OAP at Flyweight, and has a proper journeyman-like record of 21-13-1. But when he’s on he’s a tough night’s work for a lot of guys. He hasn’t been as active in recent years, maybe age, maybe injuries. But he’s coming into this fight off the back of a submission win over Kai Asakura in August. With Erceg, I don’t know man. I just don’t know anymore. He’s only 30 and he’s clearly got skills. It wasn’t that long ago he took Alexandre Pantoja right to the wire and lost on account of one mistake in the last round. Coming out of that fight, I think everyone thought he’d be a player in the Flyweight title picture going forward. But he then got knocked out in a round by Kai Kara-France and then lost a lacklustre decision to Brandon Moreno. Three losses on the trot. He did claw a win back in his last fight, beating Ode Osbourne on points at the Apex in August. But even that, I remember a lot of people had Osbourne winning. I can’t remember how I scored it but let’s just say it was far from a convincing win for Erceg. And considering Osbourne was a significant step down in levels, you’d have expected Erceg to look better than he did. Yeah I don’t know. Erceg has just looked like a fighter who’s lost confidence in himself in recent fights. He’s also Perth born and raised though so maybe that will give him the boost he needs to regain that form he had up to and including the Pantoja war of ‘24.

 

Marwan Rahiki vs Ollie Schmid has been thrown together at pretty much the last minute. Rahiki was meant to be facing Jack Jenkins on this card but Jenkins dropped out about a week or so before show time. This fight got cobbled together just three or four days out from the card. I’m glad Rahiki gets to still fight but it’s never ideal. If you don’t recall Rahiki, allow me to refresh your memory…

He’s the guy who broke Harry Hardwick’s jaw at the Apex in March. That was Rahiki’s UFC debut. Fight got stopped between rounds because Hardwick’s jaw was jacked bad. I’d never heard of Rahiki before but he instantly got my attention in that fight. It was a really entertaining fight but Rahiki put a beating on him overall. He really looked like someone worth keeping an eye on. He’s Moroccan, 23 years old and undefeated at 8-0, all finishes. Schmid is from New Zealand, he’s 25 years old and 4-2 with 3 knockouts. Seems like this UFC move might be coming a bit too soon for him but he did win his last fight in March via spinning backfist KO in just 15 seconds.

 

Shamil Gaziev vs Brando Pericic. Oh boy. Let’s just hope this is mercifully short. Anything longer than a round is probably gonna be absolutely fucking awful. Russia’s Gaziev is 36 years old, 14-2 and got sat down in just over a minute by the right hand of Waldo Cortes Acosta on the Qatar card back in November. He was also one half of one of the worst Apex main events ever (and that’s saying something!) against Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 2024, where Gaziev basically quit on the stool due to being so knackered. He’s had a couple of wins in the UFC too but nowt worth bragging about. He’s arse. Pericic is Australian, trains out of City Kickboxing, is 31 years old and 6-1 with a 100% finish rate. He just swarmed Louie Sutherland for a first round stoppage on the London card in March. Doesn’t look anything special, just another burly slugger, but I’m hoping he ends this one quick as well just because who needs 15 plodding minutes of this in their life?

 

Tai Tuivasa vs Louie Sutherland is a late card change just over a week out from the show. Was originally supposed to be Tuivasa against Sean Sharaf, injury scuppered that and in steps Sutherland. Rock bottom expectations for this and they’ll still probably somehow fail to surpass them. I actually thought they might bin Tuivasa after his most recent abomination of a fight. He fought Tallison Teixeira on the UFC 325 card in Sydney in January and they absolutely stunk the place up. Probably the front runner for Worst Fight Of The Year so far. And Tuivasa lost. So he’s coming into this fight on a, wait for it, a six fight losing streak, for fuck’s sake! And he’s only just dropped out of the rankings. Never let new fans tell you the current Heavyweight division isn’t that bad. It’s utter dogshit. I actually thought @Egg Shen had a great shout after Tai’s last fight, suggesting he should go the Bare Knuckle route. He seems the type who might actually have some success there and be able to salvage something from his fighting career like other UFC vets have. But no. Here we go again. Sutherland is from Tottenham, 32 years old, 10-5 with 8 knockouts. He couldn’t have had a much worse start to his UFC run. He got heel hooked in under 90 seconds by Valter Walker in his debut, then got stopped in less than two minutes by Brando Pericic on the London card in March. Disaster. If Tai loses again here, seven in a bastard row, they’ve gotta cut him loose, right? Right?

 

Cam Rowston vs Robert Bryczek is whatever. Not a terrible fight or anything but it’s not grabbing me. Rowston’s Aussie, 31 and has a record of 14-3 with 13 of his wins being finishes. He’s gone 2-0 in the UFC so far with TKO stoppages over Andre Petroski and Cody Brundage. I vaguely remember the Brundage fight being not overly impressive though. He got the finish so it was all good in the end. I just recall thinking he made a bit of a meal of it. Bryczek is Polish, 35 years old and 18-6 with 13 finishes. Fought a bit in the Oktagon promotion previously, made his UFC debut in early 2024 and has only fought twice since. A decision loss against Ihor Potieria in his debut, followed by about an 18 month layoff, then he returned in September last year and got a TKO over Brad Tavares in Paris. Nothing particularly stands out about either of these two really but it could be alright prelim filler.

 

Junior Tafa vs Kevin Christian. Ergh. Have they not given up on the Tafa brothers yet? It’s not like the roster is lacking Aussie/Kiwi fighters to fill these cards up is it? Tafa might genuinely be one the worst fighters in the UFC these days. Gotta be one of the, say, ten worst on the books right now. He’s 29 years old and has a record of 6-5 overall, 2-5 in the UFC and he’s coming into this fight off back-to-back submission losses. Don’t recall seeing Kevin Christian before but unless he’s complete dogshit, he’s got no excuse to be losing this one. He’s Brazilian, 31 years old and 9-3 with all 9 wins coming inside the distance. He did get subbed in a round by Billy Elekana in his UFC debut though so there’s that. This is poor regional circuit MMA masquerading as UFC level. Christian should pack it in if he loses this fight.

 

Jacob Malkoun vs Gerald Meerschaert is just there. Saddens me to say it but I think Meerschaert is done. He’s 38 years old now, 57 fights deep in his career and he’s on a four fight losing streak. It’s over, isn’t it? He was never gonna be a contender in the UFC, much less a champion, but he had his moments over the years and always seemed proper sound and likeable. It’s just not happening for him anymore though. A lot of his better wins saw him rely on toughness and he’d somehow come through with a submission win. But lately, his recovery powers seem to have abandoned him as well and that’s a definite sign that it’s time to get out. He got subbed in 50 seconds last time out by Kyle Daukaus and it never looked more over. Malkoun’s Australian, 30 years old, 9-3 and coming off a couple of wins over Andre Petroski and Torrez Finney. He’s really nothing special and he’s someone I’d have probably picked Gerald to beat a few years back. My confidence in him is shot now though.

 

Colby Thicknesse vs Vince Morales might be worth a look. Australia’s Thicknesse is 26 years old, 8-1 and one of Alexander Volkanovski’s main training partners. Made his UFC debut on the Sydney PPV last February and lost on points to Aleksandre Topuria. I remember enjoying that fight though and, in fairness, I’m sure Thicknesse stepped in on short notice. He bounced back on the last Perth show in September with a decision win over Josias Musasa that I don’t even remember. Morales is 35 years old, so no spring chicken for a Bantamweight, has a 16-10 record and has lost his last three fights on the bounce. Think it’s clear the matchmakers set this up with the intentions of getting Thicknesse a win and giving the Aussie crowd something to cheer about but we’ll see if it works out like that.

 

Wes Schultz vs Ben Johnston. No clue whatsoever on this. Looking up Schultz on Sherdog, he got a win via kneebar (don’t see them much these days) on DWCS in October but then got stopped in a round by Damian Pinas (behave) in his UFC debut in February. Johnston is making his first walk to the Octagon here. He’s Australian, 35 years old and 5-1 with none of them making it to the scorecards. That’s all I’ve got on these guys.

 

Jonathan Micallef vs Themba Gorimbo should probably be a bit higher up the card for me but whatever. Micallef’s Aussie, from Melbourne, 27 years old and 9-1 with 6 finishes. He got in through a submission win on DWCS in October 2024 and has gone 2-0 in the UFC since. He took a decision off Kevin Jousset in his debut in February 2025 but then never fought again until January this year, when he subbed Oban Elliott on the undercard of Volk vs Lopes 2 in Sydney. Decent fight from what I remember, but Micallef really took over once he was able to turn it into a grappling match. Gorimbo is from Zimbabwe, he’s 35 years old, 14-6 and coming off back-to-back losses to Vicente Luque and Jeremiah Wells. Gorimbo is mostly remembered for that feel-good viral video a couple of years ago when The Rock gave him a house.

 

Kody Steele vs Dom Mar Fan kicks the night off. I’ll give this a bash actually. Only seen one fight out of Steele, his UFC debut back in February 2025. And him and Rongzhu had a bit of a hidden gem of a scrap. Seriously, if you didn’t see it and you’ve got Fight Pass, look it up.

One of the best under the radar, little known, not really talked about fights from last year. Steele lost on points but it was such a fun fight. He hasn’t fought since then though for whatever reason. He’s 31 years old and 7-1 with 5 finishes. Dom Mar Fan is from Brisbane, 26 years old and has a 9-2 record. Never seen him fight but he was on Road To UFC and made his debut on the Volk vs Lopes 2 undercard in January. I don’t recall seeing it but he won by decision. His only two career losses were a couple of submissions to Quillan Salkilld, in 2022 and then again in 2024. He’s on a five fight winning streak now.

 

 

Shrimp on the barbie…

Edited April 30 by wandshogun09

[wandshogun09]

Typical. No sooner had I knocked this thread up, it looks like my ‘one to watch’ is off. Some account on Twitter is saying Jack Jenkins is out of the fight with Marwan Rahiki. Usually I’d take it with a pinch of salt but Marcel Dorff’s retweeted it so that pretty much confirms it. Shit. 

[Egg Shen]

Id had read Valter Walker was a possibility for Tuivasa, that would have been a waste of everyones time. This is much better.

 

[wandshogun09]

Marwan Rahiki has a new opponent. Some fucker called Ollie Schmid. From New Zealand, 4-2 record, probably gonna lose especially on just a few days notice. But he did do this in his last fight. 15 second KO…

It’s mostly a one match card but there is stuff worth checking out on the rest of the card. It being on a Saturday morning UK time means I’ll probably watch a lot of it live, even if a fair bit of it I just have on in the background. The main event should be fireworks though. Can’t wait for that.

[Egg Shen]

Tai Tuivasa is a 1/2 favorite over Louis Sutherland off the back of a 6 fight losing streak, how shit must the bookies think Sutherland is 😄

I think Ollie Schmid is a CKB guy, hence the call-up. He might be amongst the most least experienced/deserving debutants in UFC history though. 

[Egg Shen]

Wee reminder, 9am start time for this tomorrow

[wandshogun09]

Not long now…

Gone JDM, Salkilld and Erceg in the poll but could easily see any of them going the other way. The main event especially is almost a straight 50/50 to me. Nobody’s really got the better of either Maddalena or Prates in the striking yet in the UFC and this is likely to play out on the feet. So it’s gonna be interesting to see who gets the upper hand. Went with Maddalena in the end just because I think he’s the better boxer of the two and also a bit of wishful thinking because I don’t really wanna see him lose two in a row, especially with this being in his hometown. Would be rough. Prates is lethal though so it’s a very real possibility.

Salkilld beating Dariush is the one I’m probably most confident on of the three top fights but, even that, Salkilld really hasn’t been properly tested yet, he’s looked good but his opposition hasn’t been great so far and Dariush has been around the block and has the grappling to potentially ask serious questions of Salkilld. I just can’t get past the slow starts with Dariush though. It’s almost like he sleepwalks through the first round and if he gets through that, then he can be an issue. But I’ve got a gut feeling Salkilld is gonna KO him early and badly here.

And I picked Erceg over Elliott but who the fuck knows with that one? My confidence in Erceg is pretty shot at this point but I feel like he should be beating an older, inconsistent Elliott at this stage in both their careers. He’s definitely got the striking to give Elliott real problems but I could just as easily see crafty old Elliott catching him in a sub out of nowhere. It’s one of them. Erceg really hasn’t looked great since losing to Pantoja in their title fight but this should be a decent barometer to see where he’s at because, while Elliott is certainly no pushover, he’s also 39 years old and not a guy Erceg should be losing to if he’s ever gonna be in the title mix again. 

[Dai]

Great write up, as i am now looking forward to the main card. I am going JDM and Dariush for the two main fights. Just going for the better track records. Think both will be competitive points decisions. 

[Egg Shen]

Ahh i don't see Prates/JDM going that long. Prates by TKO 2 or 3 for me.

Hell of a fight weekend lads.

[Dai]

On 5/2/2026 at 6:53 AM, wandshogun09 said:

Nobody’s really got the better of either Maddalena or Prates in the striking yet in the UFC and this is likely to play out on the feet. So it’s gonna be interesting to see who gets the upper hand. Went with Maddalena in the end just because I think he’s the better boxer

Until this fight. Prates absolutley smashed him. What a performance from him. Firstly, he looked a weight division higher than JDM, and secondly, he must have insane power, as it looked like every strike Prates threw could end the fight. The slither of hope future opponents have is that he got taken down piss easy in R1. That said, JDM couldnt do it again in the later rounds, so maybe it was more a case of Prates was on cruise control already by R1. Those step in knees were a thing of beauty, too. Plus obviously the nasty leg kicks too, a super well rounded attack.Statement performance by making JDM look that bad.

 

Dariush has turned in to the last days of Overeem or Bigfoot. His jaw has completely gone. Any half decent punch just seems to end it for him. If he insists on carrying on fighting then hopefully it will just be unranked guys on Apex shows from now on, as his days as a top guy are done.

 

Rahiki looked very good again, and it will be good to see how he looks when his opponent is a step up in quality. I think this was the fight that had the commentary cam reaction for the finish, which was hilarious, as none of them even bothered to fake excitement. It was just them talking. "Heres a replay of three men just sitting there". 

 

Pericic fight was a very good too, and was one of the better heavyweight fights from recent memory. He showed some decent gas, a decent chin, and some lovely aggression and good hands. There arent many in the heavyweight division that you can say this about, so hopefully he goes on a decent run. Possibly worrying that he landed some very nice shots when he was still fresh in R1 that didnt get the job done, though.

 

Tuivasa looked shite again. There was a point in the past when he looked like he had good potential. Just hasnt worked out that way. I assume he wont be cut and he just stays on these Aussie shows. Sutherland looked OK for short notice, but thats about it. He did a lovley move in the fight when he was on all fours, grabbed Tuivasa's wirst and did sort of a roll and then all in one motion ended up in mount. Was pretty sweet. Would be my gif request of the show. Either that, or JDM getting smashed in the face constantly with knees. 

[wandshogun09]

I’ve really gotta stop picking against Carlos Prates. He absolutely wrecked Maddalena here.

I don’t know what it is about Prates. He’s been exciting to watch throughout his entire UFC run and I like him. But I’ve never been fully sold on him as a top player in the division for whatever reason. Maybe it was something in that loss to Ian Garry but, even then, it’s looking like Garry’s fighting for the title next and Prates did go the distance and have some late success against him from what I remember. After his last few performances though, especially his last two stopping two former champions in Leon Edwards and now Maddalena, he clearly belongs in the title mix at 170. This was an absolute mugging to the point I actually felt sorry for JDM.

On 5/4/2026 at 7:27 AM, Dai said:

Until this fight.

If we’re just talking Boxing, I’d still say JDM is the better of the two. But it was a silly way for me to pick a winner because that doesn’t take into account Prates is the much more well rounded striker, especially seeing how big a factor his knees and kicks were in this fight. Plus the rangeyness was an issue and he also clearly had more firepower than JDM. With the benefit of hindsight, I feel stupid picking JDM. Wasn’t like I was confident in it but, like I said in the bit you quoted, we hadn’t seen either of them get chewed up in the striking before this fight so I just went with JDM better boxer = might edge it. Why I didn’t factor in Prates’ kicks, knees and physical advantages, I don’t know 🤣

This pic of Prates with his daughter was one of my favourite things coming out of this show.

Class. Honestly wouldn’t even hate if he got the next title shot now. It’s not likely to happen, seems like Makhachev vs Garry is being lined up for August. Which is fine. But Prates has as strong an argument for the title shot as anyone in the division now for me, if not stronger. I do think Makhachev would give him fits with his wrestling but whatever. He deserves a crack at it at least. Seen some suggestions of Prates vs Michael Morales in a #1 contenders fight next. I’m not sure about that. I’d obviously love to see the fight but I’m not in love with eliminating one of them as a challenger. As for JDM, I think that Leon Edwards fight that was supposed to happen last year in London makes sense for both now.

Salkilld vs Dariush ended like I think most expected it would.

First round stoppage for Salkilld. Not without some shaky moments at the start though. Dariush dropping him in the opening seconds with the jab wasn’t how I saw this one starting. And then Dariush getting the clinch work going for most of the first round had me thinking maybe he can make this one interesting. Then Salkilld got free and just wasted him with the first meaningful punches he landed.

Saw something on Twitter about Salkilld calling out Gamrot and Gamrot responded. That would be a serious test for Salkilld. I like it. On the other end, I saw Mason Jones calling for a fight against Dariush. Big fan of Jones but bit disappointed in that, to be honest. I get it in that Dariush is ranked and I guess it’s a smart callout. But I don’t know. It’s never a good look when you call someone out who’s coming off a loss but it’s even worse when they just got stopped in a round, are coming off back-to-back first round knockout losses and are 1-4 in their last five. Called him out the day of the show as well. Like a few hours after he got slept, Jones is already trying to feast on the carcass. Come on man.

Thought Steve Erceg had a solid showing. Nothing amazing but I thought it was definitely the best he’s looked since the Pantoja fight. Seemed like he got a bit of his mojo back in this one to me after a rough few fights. Decent fight but Elliott just got dragged into a striking match with a much better striker.

Marwan Rahiki did his thing. Whether it was partly the short notice or whether Schmid was just outmatched, Rahiki ran through him with no bother here. Nasty left was the beginning of the end…

Definitely needs a step up but he can’t be faulted for this really. He was all set to fight Jack Jenkins, which would’ve been a step up or at least on par with his debut opponent Hardwick. But given how late in the day Jenkins dropped out, they didn’t really have much time to get a suitable replacement in. Interested to see who they throw him in with next. Plenty of fun to be had with him in the Featherweight division. Guess it just depends how quickly they wanna move him along. Honestly, looking at the rankings, they’ve got David Onama and Pitbull at #14 and #15. I could see Rahiki beating them now. Just not sure how much higher than that he can go though so maybe another fight or two just outside the rankings is the way to go for now.

On 5/4/2026 at 7:27 AM, Dai said:

I think this was the fight that had the commentary cam reaction for the finish, which was hilarious, as none of them even bothered to fake excitement. It was just them talking. "Heres a replay of three men just sitting there". 

Genuinely wish they’d just fuck the reaction cam off. It ran its course a long time ago and it just always feels like fake, over-exaggerated shite from three twats obviously playing to the camera. It’s even worse when Rogan’s there doing the performative gurning bit. For once, in this case it actually seemed like they weren’t expecting the camera and you got the genuine reaction. And yeah, just three blokes sitting there 🤣

Brando Pericic thankfully and mercifully made fairly short work of Gaziev. I was legit dreading another Heavyweight fight immediately after the Sutherland-Tuivasa plodder but Pericic just smashed him about for a round and a half or whatever and then closed the show. Was surprisingly fun actually.

Sutherland vs Tuivasa was as rotten in practice as it sounded on paper. Abysmal stuff. They’ve gotta cut Tai loose now surely. Right? Seven losses on the bounce? And bounce these two blobs did.

On 5/4/2026 at 7:27 AM, Dai said:

Sutherland looked OK for short notice, but thats about it. He did a lovley move in the fight when he was on all fours, grabbed Tuivasa's wirst and did sort of a roll and then all in one motion ended up in mount. Was pretty sweet. Would be my gif request of the show. 

The old ‘fat man roll’. Genuinely the only positive thing about the fight and that’s only because it looked funny. Terrible fight. That’s back-to-back contenders for Worst Fight Of The Year for Tuivasa now as well. Get rid. There was a clip doing the rounds on Twitter a few days ago with Tuivasa and Maddalena on a balcony somewhere. Maddalena’s just sat there with his battered leg elevated, staring off into the distance looking absolutely depressed. And there’s Tuivasa smoking and having a great old time. 0-7, back-to-back rotters, not a care in the world. The contrast between a fighter who actually gives a shit about his career and one who doesn’t was hilarious in a fucked up way. I never wanna see Tuivasa fight again though, unless it’s Bare Knuckle or something. Not exactly in a hurry to watch Sutherland’s next fight either, to be honest.

Cam Rowston looked alright. I’m not feeling him as some big prospect but he looked OK here. I did enjoy his callout of Marvin Vettori in the post-fight interview though. Seems like a realistic shout and, although he’d clearly rehearsed it to death in the mirror all fight week, his little promo wasn’t bad. Managed to cut kind of a pro wrestling promo without resorting to going full Hokit or just bellowing out a bunch of slurs.

Junior Tafa got the win and the early KO finish. Which begs the question, just how bad is this Kevin Christian fella? Tafa’s arse and this ham and egger made him look like 98 Goldberg here.

Sadly, I think Gerald Meerschaert is clearly and absolutely done. He’s getting up in age and was already coming in on a losing streak but he looked fucking awful here. Like he was fighting in quicksand from the off. And it’s not like Malkoun’s anything special himself. On top of that, Meerschaert missed weight badly for this fight, think it was 4lbs, which is unlike him. I don’t think he’s ever missed weight before in a 59 fight career. Either the miles on the clock and the wear and tear on his body has caught up to him and he physically couldn’t get the weight off for some reason, or his motivation has just gone. Either isn’t good but it might be a bit of both. I hope he calls it a day because this was actually sadder to watch than when he got finished quick in his two previous fights.

Kody Steele getting the first round heel hook finish in the curtain jerker was pretty sweet. Rare you see any kind of leg submissions these days outside of Valter Walker’s recent run of them but that’s Heavyweight and weird shit happens. I mentioned in the opening post that Steele had a hidden gem corker in his debut against Rongzhu last year, now this. He’s gonna be fun to watch.