UFC Perth bulks up (down)undercard with four additions

The down-under-card is filling up for UFC Fight Night 275.

On Thursday, the promotion announced a slew of May 2 fight announcements.

Perhaps most notably, rising heavyweight Brando Pericic will take on ranked competition for the first time as he battles Bahrain’s Shamil Gaziev at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.

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Pericic (6-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) debuted in September and already has two first-round knockout victories in under four minutes combined. Gaziev (14-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) aims to bounce back from a first-round knockout loss to Waldo Cortes Acosta in November.

Also added, welterweight prospect Jonathan Micallef battles Themba Gorimbo. Australia’s Micallef (9-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) has shown off a mature skillset in his unanimous decision wins over Oban Elliott and Kevin Jousset. Zimbabwe’s Gorimbo (14-6 MMA, 4-3 UFC) enters on the first two-fight skid of his career, off losses to Vicente Luque and Jeremiah Wells.

A bantamweight bout between Colby Thicknesse and Vince Morales is also on tap. Thicknesse (8-1 MMA, 1-1 UFC) has split his UFC appearances. He lost to Aleksandre Topuria in his debut, but defeated Josias Musasa his second time out. Morales (16-10 MMA, 3-8 UFC) is in his second UFC stint. Likely on the final fight of his deal, Morales likely needs to snap a three-fight skid to save his UFC job.

Rounding out the new additions was a bit of a surprise. Thirty-five-year-old Ben Johnston is an Eternal MMA champion, who retired on the regional scene in 2024. Johnston (5-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) comes out of retirement to debut vs. Wes Schultz, who aims to bounce back from an unsuccessful UFC debut. Schultz (8-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was finished in Round 1 by Damian Pinas in February.