![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260502034736_MTM050226.JPG\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\nGetty Images\/UFC<\/p>\n
The Here are the matches to make for the top UFC Perth main card
\nUltimate Fighting Championship<\/a> returned to Australia for its
\nfirst event of May. Headlining
\nUFC Perth<\/a> was the return of former welterweight champion
\nJack
\nDella Maddalena<\/a> against Brazilian contender Carlos
\nPrates<\/a>. The 13-fight card also featured worthwhile fights in
\nthe heavyweight, lightweight, featherweight and flyweight
\ndivisions.<\/p>\n
\nwinners.
\n
\nPrates (24-7) picked up the biggest win of his career at the
\nexpense of Maddelena (18-4), who he
\ndestroyed over three rounds en route to a TKO stoppage<\/a>. While
\nextremely impressive, it doesn\u2019t seem like Prates will leap
\nMichael
\nMorales<\/a> in the sweepstakes to face Islam
\nMakhachev<\/a> next due to his recent defeat to Ian Garry<\/a>.
\nThe Brazilian is 32, so he can continue to make his case by taking
\non another contender. The winner of the upcoming Joaquin
\nBuckley<\/a>–Sean Brady<\/a>
\nfight next week would be great as both men are respected veterans
\nwho would look good on the resume of \u201cThe Nightmare.\u201d Let\u2019s see if
\nPrates can score one more major win and get into either a title
\neliminator or even a title shot if timing works out as he looked
\nfantastic tonight.
\n
\nQuillan
\nSalkilld<\/a> went from prospect to contender by finishing Beneil
\nDariush<\/a> with
\nan onslaught of punches<\/a>. Salkilld (12-1) is now 5-0 inside the
\nOctagon and is only 26 years old, which gives him plenty of time to
\nkeep improving. However, Salkilld isn\u2019t looking to waste time and
\nmade my job easy by calling out Mateusz
\nGamrot<\/a> for a fight. While a fight against \u201cGamer\u201d won\u2019t be
\neasy, it\u2019s one I\u2019d love to see. The 35-year-old Gamrot (26-4)
\nrecently submitted Esteban
\nRibovics<\/a> to get back into the win column after losing to
\nCharles
\nOliveira<\/a>. He’s a respected contender, so it’d be a huge deal if
\nSalkilld can get past him, which certainly isn’t a given.
\n
\nSteve
\nErceg<\/a> stayed disciplined on the feet against Tim Elliott<\/a>
\nand took home a unanimous decision victory as a result. \u201cAstro Boy\u201d
\nhas now won two fights in a row after a three-fight skid that saw
\nhim fall short against some of the division\u2019s best. Clearly a
\ncontender, it\u2019d be fun to see Erceg (14-4) take on England\u2019s
\nLone’er
\nKavanagh<\/a> next. Kavanagh (10-1) is just 26 but is coming off a
\ngigantic upset over Brandon
\nMoreno<\/a>. The Great Britain Top Team member was previously
\nfinished by Charles
\nJohnson<\/a>, so it\u2019s hard to read where exactly his ceiling is. A
\nfight against the 30-year-old Erceg would show exactly where both
\nmen stand in the division currently and we can expect to see both
\nbecome mainstays for years to come.
\n
\nMarwan
\nRahiki<\/a> made quick work of Oliver
\nSchmid<\/a> after landing
\nsome powerful punches<\/a>. The undefeated Rahiki is now 9-0 as a
\npro and 2-0 inside the UFC with the victory. \u201cFreaky\u201d should face a
\nmuch more experienced opponent in his next outing and Darren
\nElkins<\/a> fits the bill nicely. \u201cThe Damage\u201d holds a 29-12 record
\nand despite being 41 is 2-1 in his last three fights with wins over
\nT.J.
\nBrown<\/a> and Daniel
\nPineda<\/a> showing that he\u2019s still dangerous. If Rahiki can get
\npast the featherweight mainstay then we\u2019ll know that he\u2019s a true
\nprospect in the division.
\n
\nAustralia\u2019s Brando
\nPericic<\/a> continued his ascent by flooring Shamil
\nGaziev<\/a> with
\na brutal punch<\/a>. Now 3-0 inside the Octagon, it\u2019s time for a
\nstep up in competition for Pericic (7-1). I\u2019d like to see \u201cThe
\nBalkan Bear\u201d take on Rizvan
\nKuniev<\/a> next. Kuniev (14-3-1) only has two fights inside the
\npromotion but has gone up against much tougher competition, losing
\nto Curtis
\nBlaydes<\/a> and then taking a decision over Jailton
\nAlmeida<\/a>. Let\u2019s see if the 31-year-old Pericic is someone to
\nwatch at heavyweight or if the Russian is simply too much for him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Images\/UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship returned to Australia for its first event of May. Headlining UFC Perth…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[2655,2973,152,335],"class_list":{"0":"post-3484","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-perth","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-https-www-sherdog-com-news-articles-ufc","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-perth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}