Quillan Salkilld, by his own admission, wasn't much of a student. But after schooling all five of his UFC opponents thus far, there is a growing feeling Down Under that the 26-year-old lightweight could be Australia's next big MMA star.
Already, the boy from Broome has made his mark. If Perth -- where the UFC makes its return for Fight Night: Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates this weekend -- is regarded as the world's most isolated city, then Broome must be among the planet's most isolated towns.
The idyllic coastal stop, which sits on Australia's north-western tip, some 2,223 kilometres [1,381 miles] from the West Australian capital, is renowned for its South Sea pearls, which can fetch in excess of A$150,000 (US$107,700).
But Salkilld might soon rival the sought-after accessory as the town's most notable export given his exploits in the UFC so far. In just 18 months, the man with arguably the best moustache in mixed martial arts has gone from "Dana White's Contender Series" to the co-main event in his adopted hometown, dropping a nominee for the best KO of 2025 along the way.
And while he originally left school at age 16 to throw all his energy into Australian rules football, it is in mixed martial arts where Salkilld has found his calling and, perhaps one day, might see him replicate the championship success of countryman Robert Whittaker, Alexander Volkanovski, and Della Maddalena.
"I've always been able to pick up skills quickly, I guess, but I think that's attributed to me being all in on the sport," Salkilld tells ESPN from his car, having scooped up the last remaining protein balls from the café which adjoins his Luistro Combat Academy gym, some 10 days out from his fight with American Beneil Dariush.
"As soon as I started -- I was playing footy at the time -- but within a couple of months I lost total interest in playing footy and I just wanted to do this. Just me becoming obsessed with the sport made me become decent at it early on because I was all in, I didn't half-ass it.
"Nothing really necessarily came naturally in terms of gaining the skills and competing, all that stuff I had to learn over time. But all the hard work part of training and making the necessary sacrifices that you've got to do when you're being an athlete, that stuff came naturally to me."
Had it not been for a trip to UFC 221: Rockhold vs Romero, Salkilld might still be helping out in his old man's mechanic shop, changing oil and tyres, though he says that he "probably broke more things than he fixed".
But that trip south to the same RAC Arena where he will fight Dariush this weekend convinced him that mixed martial arts was a pursuit more attractive than footy -- and certainly far more lucrative than collecting oily rags in his father's garage.
"I was a fan of the sport before I started training and then I ended up going to my first ever MMA show here in Perth in 2018," he says. "And then two weeks after that I started training because I thought it was so cool; I always thought it would be cool to be able to fight at that arena.
"And I've just been obsessed with the sport pretty much ever since. So for me it was just stepping in the gym and actually doing it that made me actually want to do it -- it's like it chose me."
People will remember the Rockhold-Romero fight for the Cuban's thundering left hook and follow-up uppercut that floored his American opponent in a brutal KO.
Not to be outdone, Salkilld has already delivered a UFC highlight of his own, with his pinpoint head kick direct to the temple of Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 321 an instant fight winner, earning him a $50,000 bonus and a whole lot of new Instagram followers to boot.
"That definitely did change my life," he tells ESPN with a smile. "Just the story of taking that fight against the guy I was kind of expecting to fight, but not that soon or that short of a notice on a card. I was running out of money as well, so I was like 'I need to get a fight ASAP'. It kind of worked out. I had like three weeks left of money before I had to call up my parents and be like, 'hey, I need some cash for rent'.
"Just having to cut that weight in that short amount of time and putting on a performance like that; getting another bonus and becoming a bit more viral and getting a lot more recognition. That's definitely changed my life.
"That one thing I decided to throw in that moment has set me down a path of where we are now."
Salkilld added another impressive victory to his résumé earlier this year in Sydney when he submitted fellow Australian Jamie Mullarkey. His compatriot brought the pressure early, but Salkilld defended everything that was thrown at him, before locking in a neck crank and getting the tap from Mullarkey just three minutes and two seconds into the first round.
But Salkilld knows that Dariush, a veteran of 24 UFC fights, represents a significant rise in quality.
"It's a cool step up for me to fight this guy because I've been watching this guy for ages and always thought this is one of the guys I'm going to be fighting sooner or later," he says. "It's come a bit sooner and that's wicked.
"Having that number next to his name makes it all the more exciting because I want to go in there and take that number for myself and take his spot. That's what I'm going to be looking to do.
"He poses a good threat everywhere. He swings hard on the feet and he grapples really well. I think we're going to have some fun grappling exchanges. I'm going to touch him in his head and hopefully put him away that way."
With former welterweight champion Della Maddalena set for battle in the main event in Perth and Steve Erceg in action before Salkilld, the final three fights on the Perth card will each feature West Australians.
The event will also be held Saturday evening, Australian Eastern Standard Time, rather than its usual local 7am start in a history-making moment for the UFC Down Under.
In his adopted hometown, under the primetime Saturday night lights, there is no better place for Salkilld to deliver a statement performance and earn himself a spot among the lightweight rankings.
The level of opposition will only become more challenging from there, but there is a quiet confidence in Salkilld that underscores a fighter determined to achieve his goal and build on a UFC legacy forged by the Australian champions who have put mixed martial arts not just on the map Down Under, but leaping up from it.
"Obviously a lot of work between now and then, but that's clearly the ultimate goal here," Salkilld says. "I just think I'm built for this. I've always seen myself as being able to get to the top and getting that belt strapped around my waist. I think it's going to come sooner than most people think.
"I've had this realistic plan of me getting to that stage. But the way things are going, I think it's going to come a little sooner. It's just something I've always seen myself being, the lightweight champion. It's definitely going to come into fruition within the next couple of years."
