Quillan Salkilld confronted the most important check of his combined martial arts profession Saturday in Australia and handed with flying colors.
The rising light-weight expertise picked up a first-round technical knockout victory over No. 12 contender Beneil Dariush within the co-main occasion of a UFC Battle Night time occasion in his dwelling metropolis of Perth.
Salkilld capped off his 3-0 marketing campaign in 2025 with a KO of the Yr candidate over Nasrat Haqparast and commenced 2026 with a submission of Jamie Mularkey in January at UFC 325 in Sydney.
He’s a reputation to observe at 155 kilos and can debut within the rankings subsequent week after this win. The 26-year-old misplaced his skilled debut 5 years in the past when he was a teen however has since gained 12 consecutive bouts general with 4 of his 5 UFC wins being first-round stoppages.
Dariush has been a perennial contender and has shared the cage with the division’s finest ever since becoming a member of the UFC in 2014, however the soon-to-be 37-year-old has now been knocked out within the opening spherical in 4 of his previous 5 fights and was coming off a 16-second KO loss to Benoit Saint Denis in November.
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Saturday’s 13-bout occasion occurred at RAC Area and was headlined by former welterweight champion and Perth native Jack Della Maddalena, who was one in every of 13 Australian-based fighters featured.
Additionally on the cardboard, previous flyweight title challengers Tim Elliott and Steve Erceg went toe-to-toe for quarter-hour with Erceg getting his hand raised because of precision putting. Perth’s Erceg has now gained two straight, whereas Elliott had his two-fight successful streak snapped.
Elliott pushed 125-pound nice Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for 5 rounds of their 2016 title combat however misplaced a five-round choice. Erceg was one spherical away from defeating then-champ Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 virtually two years in the past to the day however misplaced a detailed choice and has needed to work his approach again up the rankings.
Marwan Rahiki, who was born in Morocco however lives and fights out of Sydney, continued his excellent begin to his professional profession with a fast end of newcomer Ollie Schmid. Rahiki, a promising featherweight, improved to 9-0 since turning professional in 2024 after catching Schmid with a brief left hook halfway via the opening spherical.
The 23-year-old was coming off a March TKO win over Harry Hardwick, which was among the best fights of the 12 months. Schmid changed Rahiki’s unique opponent Jack Jenkins on roughly one week’s discover after Jenkins withdrew as a result of damage.
Brando Pericic had the house crowd roaring throughout his heavyweight slugfest with Bahrain’s Shamil Gaziev. The 2 behemoths traded heavy strikes for a bit over six minutes earlier than Pericic managed to discover a ending mixture on the ultra-durable Gaziev.
Pericic ultimately earned a technical knockout win after chopping Gaziev down with accumulating blows like a mighty oak. Gaziev entered the occasion the No. 14 contender within the heavyweight division, which means Pericic will take his spot within the rankings subsequent week. Pericic, 31, solely debuted within the UFC in September however is already 3-0 within the group.
In much less entertaining heavyweight motion, Tai Tuivasa couldn’t snap his prolonged dropping streak and dropped a slow-paced unanimous choice to Louie Sutherland within the opening bout of the principle card.
The Scottish-born Sutherland smothered Tuivasa on his technique to getting his first UFC victory. Tuivasa has now misplaced six consecutive fights courting again to his interim title combat with Ciryl Gane in 2022.
Aussie-based fighters went 5-2 on the preliminary card with Junior Tafa returning to the win column with a dominant first-round stoppage of Kevin Christian. Tafa had been submitted in two straight and had been completed in 4 of 5 previous to this win.
American Kody Steele quieted the group within the opening bout when he tapped Dom Mar Fan with a nifty inverted heel hook within the opening spherical of their light-weight contest.
It took Wesley Schultz a number of choke makes an attempt however he ultimately discovered the proper angle to submit the debuting Ben Johnston in one other American over Australian end result.
Sydney’s Cameron Rowston improved to 3-0 within the UFC with a unanimous choice win over Robert Bryczek. Rowston challenged one-time title challenger Marvin Vettori to a matchup following the win.
Australians Jacob Malkoun, Colby Thicknesse and Jonathan Micallef all escaped with tightly contested choice wins over Gerald Meerschaert, Vince Morales and Themba Gorimbo, respectively.
