UFC Fight Night Adelaide: Australia Preview

By Dave Madden

UFC Fight Night Adelaide, Australia, headlined by Stipe Miocic and Mark “The Super Somoan” Hunt, packs a number of positives and potentially fun matchups for fans on the main card, yet being labeled a Fight Pass Fight Night has placed it in the shadows of relevance. There are a number of reasons to not miss the card: you simply need to shift your thinking “out” of the fact that it’s not a pay-per-view event and “back” to realizations that the UFC continues to reach corners of the globe in search of the world’s most talented athletes; the main event occupies two heavy hitting heavyweights; the Octagon is the pinnacle proving ground of mixed martial arts, so you can’t go wrong.

Before stepping into the cage in Adelaide, Australia, it’s important to note the UFC’s continued global reach and efforts to educate fans around the world. Recently, the Australian government lifted a ban in Melbourne that prevented fighters from competing inside a caged ring. The UFC plans to host an event in Melbourne later this year in November. By bringing the UFC to Adelaide, the public will be offered yet another opportunity to witness for themselves that a cage doesn’t compound any risk. In fact, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sports Minister John Eren ordered the ban to be lifted on the cage when fighters appealed its significance for fighters,

“Mixed martial arts has been legal in Victoria; the only thing that was not legal is the actual fencing which made it safer for competitors, officials and spectators.”

Western Australia is the only Australian state that still bans the use of the cage, but time will tell and misguided understandings will continue to fade.

Just as the Australian government was quick to discredit the cage that fighters lock themselves into, fight fans appear to be eager to take away from the card that the UFC is promoting in Adelaide because they believe the card to be lackluster. True fans of the UFC, the highest level of MMA, recognize that there is no need to be down in the dumps about the card.

Mark Hunt (10-9) vs. Stipe Miocic (12-2)

Though Miocic and Hunt are coming off losses to headline this five round affair, there is no love lost for the defeats they’ve incurred. Both these heavyweights are hard-hitting, as all are in the most treacherous division, but they pair their knockout prowess with durability, which makes that perfect shot difficult to position in order to earn the finish.

Miocic is coming off a loss to Junior Dos Santos, who is touted as the greatest boxer in the UFC’s heavyweight division, and Miocic not only took some of Dos Santos’ very best punishment, he was able to dish out a fair amount of his own. Even though Miocic lost the decision unanimously, he opened the eyes of MMA fans as to the unknown abilities of the former Cleveland State third baseman. A competitor to the core; Miocic is likely content batting in the heavyweight’s clean up position, being ranked number four in the world, yet he can’t help but wonder what it’s like to have a positioning further up the lineup. A win over the “Super Samoan”, and he may find out.

Hunt has had a rocky go in the UFC, but he continuously seems to find himself a stone’s throw away from standing across the cage from another title opportunity. Maybe he remains a fan favorite because of his ability to deliver walk-off knockouts? Fans can almost hear his thoughts when his opponents hit the canvas and he paces off: “Done.” Maybe Hunt is embraced by the MMA world in loss because his previous fights that weren’t wins were jaw dropping. Hunt’s last three losses have played out as follows: a short notice fight at elevation in Mexico City, Mexico for the interim title where he tested Fabricio Werdum’s chin prior to being finished by a flying knee at UFC 188; a rock em-sock em match against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva who wound up testing positive for performance enhancing drugs; Junior Dos Santos landing a spinning heel kick that caught the MMA masses off guard, since Dos Santos is more pleased to punch. Win or lose, MMA, the UFC, fight enthusiasts around the world win because there is no losing with a fight that has Hunt slated.

Brad Tavares (13-4) vs. Robert Whittaker (14-4)

In the co-main event, Brad Tavares and Robert Whittaker are looking to keep their winning streaks alive. Both fighters have a number of similarities: home is found on a small land mass surrounded by water; competitors of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF); each has two losses since entering the UFC.

Tavares, a tough Hawaiian, plans to make it two wins in a row against Whittaker. Ranked fourteenth in the middleweight division, Tavares isn’t trying to fall out of the rankings. It’s difficult to take anything away from the losses on his record as they were against top flight competition, such as Yoel “The Soldier of God” Romero, a world class wrestler, and Tim “The Barbarian” Boetsch, a veteran who has been in the UFC game since UFC 81. The two wins by Tavares have come by way of unanimous decision and he wants nothing more than to give the judges some time to catch some waves and fun in the sun in Adelaide.

Whittaker was not only a TUF contestant, but he was the TUF Smashes winner. The reality show was held at the welterweight limit, though Whittaker made the move to middleweight in his last fight against Clint Hester. The Kiwi, Whittaker, was able to finish his middleweight debut in the second round with an impressive TKO. Huge weight cuts may have taken away from some of what Whittaker was capable of inside the Octagon, and he can now place less effort on weight management and more focus on his development as a mixed martial artist, which sounds dangerous for any and all opponents. Being spotlighted against Tavares in the co-main event, Whittaker has aspirations of cracking the top fifteen in his own backyard-ish of Adelaide.

Anthony Perosh (15-8) vs. Sean O’Connell (16-6)

Also, the main cards will present Anthony “The Hippo” Perosh going up against Sean “The Real OC” O’Connell, two light heavyweights in a division that finds itself rather thin and recently rattled with the Jon Jones fiasco, leaving the championship belt vacant; the only hitting and running in this matchup is hitting one another and running around the Octagon in victory.

Perosh is 42 years old and has voiced no interest in slowing down. He is known as “The Hippo” because of the immense pressure he applies in the top position using his black-belt level Jiu-Jitsu game. In his past four fights, Perosh’s record is checkered with each loss followed by a win. Though there has been no talk of retirement when this fight is done, Perosh understands the importance of stringing together wins. On his Australian home turf, Perosh plans on procuring the praise of his people.

O’Connell removes the focus on any Real Housewives by testing the brawn of “The Real OC” in Adelaide, instead of cattiness. Suffering two defeats in his UFC beginnings, O’Connell started down victor’s lane with a third round finish of Matt Van Buren in his last outing. Eleven years younger than Perosh, O’Connell would like nothing more than to demonstrate that experience and home field advantage aren’t always the necessary ingredients in cooking up another win.

James Vick (7-0) vs. Jake Matthews (9-0)

To kick off the Fight Night’s main card, two former TUF competitors with undefeated records lock up. James “The Texecutioner” Vick will battle Jake “The Celtic Kid” Matthews.

Vick is riding his last win over Nick Hein halfway around the world and over a hemisphere to attempt to retain a lossless record. He demonstrated tremendous growth and toughness as a competitor on TUF season 15. Not given a great deal of thought as a contender on TUF, Vick soon became a coach’s favorite, and he hopes to continue his rise in the lightweight division and become a fan favorite, too.

Matthews was also a TUF competitor on TUF Nations: Canada Versus Australia. The twenty year-old Aussie placed enormous pressure on his shoulders going into the TUF competition. Trained in MMA by his father, Matthews appeared to believe he had let everyone down by not finishing the TUF Nations series being crowned TUF champion. Since entering the UFC, Matthews has not required the perspective of any judges by finishing both of his fights via submission. Fighting in front of his countrymen, Matthews will not let another opportunity to fight for country pride to be squandered again.

UFC Fight Night Adelaide being classified by some as weaker than other cards shouldn’t necessarily count their chicken before they hatch. It was only a month ago that the masses were erupting in disapproval and threatening to cancel their Fight Pass subscriptions. Kapow! UFC Fight Night Krakow, Poland provided prescribers a living legend, Mirko Cro Cop, enacting revenge on a devastating loss, and the co-main event featured Jimi “The Poster Boy” Manuwa’s mental and physical toughness by pushing through a knee injury that would have sidelined most. With UFC Fight Night Adelaide fast approaching, log-in to UFC Fight Pass to see firsthand how well the matchmakers faired with their choices of who to showcase center stage on the main card in Oz.