In the final two fights of an already action-packed UFC Fight Night from Perth, Western Australia, two young athletes with budding reputations to uphold lived up to billing. Both Carlos Prates and Quillan Salkilld did what they do best, stopping their opponents before the judges had a chance to do their jobs.
First in the co-main event, Western Australia native Salkilld thrilled the hometown crowd with a patient but ultimately devastating performance to knock out veteran Beneil Dariush. Prates followed it up in the main event by overwhelming former welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena with damaging blow to head, midsection and legs until Della Maddalena succumbed to the pressure in the third round.
Here are the biggest takeaways from those bouts and two heavyweight contests that kicked off the main card.
Prates is indeed a 'Nightmare'
Prates added a second former welterweight champion to his list of UFC victims on Saturday, accounting for Della Maddalena in a supreme striking performance that could soon land Prates a shot at champion Islam Makhachev, who took the belt from JDM.
Prates inflicted punishment all over Della Maddalena's body, but it was his striking to the Australian's head that proved most telling. Blood streamed from the 29-year-old's face from a cut opened above his right eye midway through the second round. While Della Maddalena was able to survive into the third, it only delayed the inevitable. Prates sent Della Maddalena crashing to the canvas with a brutal calf kick and moved in to secure the stoppage thereafter.
The No. 5-ranked UFC welterweight contender ahead of the fight, Prates will climb up the standings with this win and may well find himself in a title fight before the end of the year. That will, however, depend on Makhachev, who hasn't fought since his win over Della Maddalena this past November. Makhachev said this week he has begun fight preparations, and UFC CEO Dana White hinted that Makhachev could return in August. The top candidate to challenge the Russian champion is Ian Machado Garry, the only person to defeat Prates in the UFC.
Still, the Brazilian is adamant he had now done enough to fight for the belt.
"I should be next, you know, nobody beat two former champs in a really good way [like me]," Prates told reporters after the fight. "They [Della Maddalena and Leon Edwards] never [previously] lost by knockout, and then I come there and make it look easy. Respect to them -- they are tough -- but against Leon, against JDM, I made it look easy.
"I'm the next [in line], I'm next. Of course, you have [Michael] Morales, but Morales didn't fight a former champ, I beat two former champs, so I [should] be next."
Could Prates tag up Makhachev like he did Della Maddalena, while also avoiding the Russian's superior takedown and wrestling ability? For the answer to that question, we must wait, potentially until 2027.
But so good was his striking against Della Maddalena, both to the head and body, that there is no denying his place in the welterweight title mix. The Brazilian truly lived up to his nickname as "The Nightmare" on Saturday night in Perth.
It's time to believe the Salkilld hype
The lightweight division will be looking over its shoulder at Salkilld after the Australian improved to 5-0 in the UFC with a devastating TKO stoppage of American Dariush.
Salkilld earned himself a third straight performance of the night bonus with his third consecutive Round 1 finish, this time courtesy of a thumping right hook and follow-up ground-and-pound.
The Australian will likely enter the UFC's lightweight rankings next week and wants to fight two more times before the end of the year -- one of which he hopes will be against Mateusz Gamrot.
Salkilld told ESPN in the leadup to his fight with Dariush that he believed he was capable of one day joining fellow Australians Robert Whittaker, Alexander Volkanovski and Della Maddalena as UFC champions. There was nothing in his performance against Dariush to suggest that cannot be the case. He survived early pressure and waited patiently for his moment to strike, which he did then with devastating effect.
This was a genuine step up in lightweight class, and Salkilld passed it with flying colours.
"I did expect him to come forward and put on a grappling heavy approach," Salkilld said of the early part of the fight. "And yeah, I could feel him squeezing a lot. There was a lot of heavy grunts and squeezing pressure, I thought, and I know how tiring that is to keep up over the course of three rounds. so I was just waiting for my moment to break away and make sure that I'm not overexerting myself as well."
On a potential date with Gamrot, Salkilld added: "Gamrot's just had a win recently, and he's ranked No. 7, so I'm just thinking that's a good next step before getting into the top five."
Aussie heavyweights are headed in opposite directions
At the start of Saturday's main card, the crowd was treated to two heavyweight fights -- the second of which brought the sellout RAC Arena to its feet.
The 13,839 fans were first forced to endure another sorry performance from former heavyweight contender Tai Tuivasa, who eventually suffered a crushing unanimous decision defeat to Englishman Louie Sutherland. All three judges' scorecards read 30-26.
The loss was Tuivasa's seventh in succession, raising questions as to whether the Australian should continue on fighting. While he remains a fan favourite Down Under, Tuivasa hasn't for a long time looked anything like the fighter who, in 2022, was a few punches away from upsetting Ciryl Gane and earning a crack at the UFC heavyweight strap.
On Saturday night, he spent nearly 12 minutes on the canvas, with Sutherland controlling the fight from start to finish.
While there was little excitement in that heavyweight contest, the one that followed was a rightful winner of the fight of the night, as Brando Peričić outslugged Bahrain's Shamil Gaziev.
Peričić made it three wins in three UFC fights with a brutal display of power punching that bloodied Gaziev's face. The final blow was a crushing right hook that caught Gaziev on the chin.
Peričić had to work tirelessly to wear down Gaziev, who survived a barrage of punishment as he continued to come forward in the search for a knockout blow of his own. Peričić eventually finished with 89 significant strikes to Gaziev's 41, with the Australian finding his opponent's head with 62 separate strikes.
While the end is nigh for Tuivasa, Peričić is heading in the opposite direction. He could be a problem for a few more ranked heavyweights yet.
