Yesterday (Sat., May 2, 2026), Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) ventured forth to RAC Arena in Perth, Australia for UFC Perth. For the second time in as many weeks, the “Prelims” were bloody miserable! Fortunately, the action did pick up for the main card, which featured some truly impressive knockouts and strong showings. In fact, the main event between Carlos Prates and Jack Della Maddalena was downright unforgettable!
Let’s take a look back over the best performances and techniques of the evening:
Prates Punishes Another Former Champion
Carlos Prates was a scary good striker before he suffered an upset loss to Ian Garry (which still ended with Garry desperately canvas-crawling away from his opponent, just for the record). In his three fights since then, Prates has improved his footwork flaws and ability to create offense between the knockout blows. He looked nastier than ever!
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Prates put on a masterclass in Jack Della Maddalena’s hometown. The boxer was diligent early on in pressing Prates to the canvas and working to build combinations, yet he was systematically picked apart. Prates and his outrageous length prepared so perfectly for the challenges Della Maddalena presented. At first, he was flashing a long jab to keep the guard raised, allowing him easy access to the calf kick, which proved both the first and final weakness in the Australian’s defense.
The calf kick bought Prates some space to work and initiative, and he capitalized brilliantly. Before too long, it was Prates building combinations, stringing together his ones and twos to back up the boxer. When Della Maddalena tried to press forward against a Prates that had found his range, suddenly his high-guard was getting bombarded with picturesque intercepting knees and clubbing elbow strikes.
Della Maddalena hung tough for quite a while in the face of enormous damage to all targets. He absorbed brutal calf kicks, ripping liver kicks, and all sorts of knocks upside the head. After about two dozen strikes that would have knocked out other world-class Welterweights, however, “JDM” crumbled under the barrage.
Prates, age 32, has put his name forward as one of the sport’s great knockout artists, and he’s only eight fights into his UFC career! It’s hard to picture him as champion while Islam Makhachev is around, but the Brazilian has certainly earned his opportunity.
Salkilld Keeps Climbing
Alas, Quillan Salkilld demolishing Beneil Dariush was incredibly predictable.
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I don’t mean that as an insult to Salkilld or even the defeated Dariush; it just felt like Dariush vs. Benoit Saint-Denis from a couple months ago extended to three minutes rather than 16 seconds. Similar to that fight, Dariush started strong with his accurate and powerful kickboxing, crashed forward, and then ate a huge shot on the break of a clinch and hit the canvas.
The 36-year-old veteran cannot take a shot anymore from these young, physically gifted standouts.
The more notable part of the performance was the two minutes of wrestling along the fence. Dariush is a damn good wrestler by any metric, a jiu-jitsu black belt who has grounded the likes of Charles Oliveira, Carlos Diego Ferreira, and Renato Moicano. Despite some good positions and constant takedown chaining, Dariush couldn’t actually put Salkilld on the canvas for more than a half-second. Salkilld’s youth advantage was much less of a factor in those early wrestling exchanges, making for a nice display of defensive grappling all the same.
Bye-Bye Bam Bam
I like Tai Tuivasa. He’s a fun personality, and he’s got some great knockout wins on his highlight reel. On the heels of his seventh-straight loss, however, I cannot pretend to care about a professional athlete who clearly refuses to put the work in. Apparently, there is no number of losses great enough to motivate Tuivasa to put on a gi or go for a jog, even despite the fact that Tuivasa could be doubling his money with a victory!
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His fight versus Louie Sutherland was both awful and disappointing. Rather than elaborate further, I’d like to let these two clips do the talking:
The Next Generation Of City Kickboxing
Names like Israel Adesanya, Dan Hooker, and Kai Kara-France brought fame and acclaim to Auckland, New Zealand’s City Kickboxing, a previously little-known gym in the MMA sphere. As that class of talent ages out of contention, however, there’s always a question of whether the gym can bring new fighters up to contend, especially when dealing with a smaller country. Even recently crowned Light Heavyweight kingpin Carlos Ulberg is 35 years old, so who knows how much longer his prime will last given his devastating knee injury.
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Fortunately, UFC Perth provided further evidence City Kickboxing is no flash in the pan with a pair of impressive wins.
On the main card, 31-year-old Brando Pericic picked up his third UFC win in just his seventh professional fight by stopping ranked contender Shamil Gaziev. The 6’5” Kiwi was forced to shuck off takedown attempts, fight his way out of the clinch, and escape bottom position a couple times. As soon as he was back to his feet, however, his professional kickboxing experience shined. He went after Gaziev with composed aggression, putting together combinations well and bloodying up the tough Russian.
What made the performance more impressive is that Gaziev didn’t just crumble in the first exchange. He timed some big single shot connections and wrestled actively, but Pericic’s combination of rangy volume and consistent grappling defense broke him down en route to the second-round knockout.
In a stagnant division, Pericic is already something of a contender.
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In the “Prelims” headliner, 6’3” Cam Rowston also picked up his third UFC win by beating up Robert Bryczek. He was able to bully the Polish veteran with his size, power, and kickboxing edge. Despite his striking background, he actually spent a lot of the fight in top position, chipping away with punches and elbows against an opponent who just couldn’t get much going.
Both Pericic and Rowston fit the City Kickboxing mold of experienced, lanky strikers transitioning to MMA. Clearly, the gym is doing something right in taking professional kickboxers and teaching them how to use their physical gifts to deny takedowns quickly, a complicated process the fight team has seemingly streamlined.
Additional Thoughts
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Marwan Rahiki defeats Ollie Schmid via first-round knockout (HIGHLIGHTS): Rahiki, age 23, is a seriously talented young striker. Defense remains secondary — which will be a problem as he climbs the ranks without addressing it — but his offensive combinations, accuracy, and aggressive counter punching are a joy to watch. This was a squash match against a short-notice and inexperienced opponent, but even so, Rahiki’s fight-finishing left hook was a thing of beauty.
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Junior Tafa defeats Kevin Christian via first-round knockout (HIGHLIGHTS): I predicted a Tafa-less 2026 after Junior Tafa’s latest disappointing loss back in January, but I forgot there was an Australia card on the books that needed filling up. What would the promotion do without at least one Tafa brother? How could it function in Perth? More seriously, I will give Junior Tafa his credit for getting in shape since his drop to Light Heavyweight. His ground game remains a serious liability, but he’s no longer dramatically outsized, allowing him to deploy that gunpowder in his fists a little more often. If he can just develop his defensive wrestling a tiny bit further, there’s space on the roster for more Junior Tafa knockout wins in Australia or otherwise!
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Wes Schultz defeats Ben Johnston via third-round guillotine choke: This was not a UFC-level fight, even considering Middleweight’s historic legacy of slop. Still, if you can look past the amateur-ish nature of the contest, the fight was fun enough, as Schultz and Johnston traded positions and submission attempts until Schultz finally snatched up the guillotine (on roughly his 10th attempt). The drama of the comeback loses a bit of its sting when you consider Johnston’s pitiful defensive response though …
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Kody Steele defeats Dom Mar Fan via first-round heel hook (HIGHLIGHTS): A loss — especially one’s first professional loss and first UFC defeat — can teach a lot of lessons. After getting out-brawled in his UFC debut by Rongzhu over a year ago, Steele returned to the Octagon ready to play to his strengths. The jiu-jitsu black belt wasn’t afraid to strike by any means, but when given the opportunity to attack a leg, Steele was attached like a dog to a bone. He showed a very high level of skill in the process of rotating and adjusting around the leg, waiting to crank until he landed in the inverted heel hook position he was chasing. There was no meaningless flexing on the ankle; Steele forced an instant tap as soon as he applied pressure, demonstrating his technical prowess on the floor.
