Author – Hudson Gelfand
Main Card
· Alex Volkanovski v Lerone Murphy (Featherweight Title) – We as MMA fans will have been robbed if we don’t ever get to see Volk fight in Sydney; thankfully, it looks like we could be getting it in February. Murphy seems to be the rightful next in line, but honestly, I don’t care who he fights. Be it Murphy, Evloev, Lopes, hell, even give me Volk v one of those Wing Chun dummies for 25 minutes – I just want Volk in Sydney.
· Jiri Prochazka v Carlos Ulberg (Vacant Light Heavyweight Title) – So part of this involves Alex vacating the belt so he can fight Tom in January for the heavyweight title, but I think it’s pretty likely we see this belt defended at this event. Ulberg seems to be next in line, and if Alex does vacate, then Jiri is the clear next guy after him (you could even potentially argue for Jiri to be ahead).
· Israel Adesanya v Sean Strickland 2 – Run it back at the scene of the crime; Izzy wants this fight, and I think Sean would be excited to come back to Sydney too. My worry is if this fight is too expensive to be the third fight from the top, but I’d like to think it could happen, especially if both guys want it.
· Cody Haddon v Cody Garbrandt – Similar concerns about whether Garbrandt would be too expensive, but I’m predicting that this fight takes place after Cody has already gotten another UFC win, so this is a great opportunity to really set Cody up for a strong push with a favourable (and fan-friendly) stylistic matchup
· Steve Erceg v Assu Almabaev – I wanted this spot to be against Kai Asakura, but I think they won’t want to spend up for him over Almabaev, given the rest of the card. This is still a fun matchup, though, in which Erceg should theoretically hold a lot of advantages; however, given his poor run of form, I don’t think it’s so clear cut going in as it probably should be, even though I would certainly favour Erceg
· Tai Tuivasa v Chris Barnett – Tai is rumoured to be coming back in Feb, and if you want to have a fun fight in the heavyweight division, you never need to look further than Chris Barnett. It should be a fun fight, and Barnett will be an invaluable addition to fight week that Aussie fans will come to love, even though he’s fighting one of our favourites.
Preliminary Card
· Cam Rowston v Ateba Gautier – Gautier is probably ahead of a spot like this, but given Cam just beat Petroski and he still has a little bit of hype around him from DWCS, he feels like a good name to feed to Gautier, who I feel would be best served with a slower build. In the featured prelim, this should be a spot for Gautier to further break out and cement himself as a future star of the division
· Quillan Salkilld v Jamie Mullarkey – While I don’t want to book Aussie v Aussie, this may be the only way to get Mullarkey on the card, and skills-wise this would be a very reasonable fight to put on. It would be fun on the feet as long as it lasted, and it could act as a really important piece in Salkilld’s development.
· Tom Nolan v Terrance McKinney – This fight would be so much fun stylistically that I just have to book it – it makes sense in terms of where they’re both at in their careers, and it would be genuine fireworks as long as it lasted. Aussie fans would go absolutely bananas for this fight if it were booked
· Casey O’Neil v Cong Wang – Maybe I just really want to see this fight because it’s a matchup I’ve predicted before, but this fight makes too much sense to me not to happen eventually. O’Neil will want to try to get on the Sydney card, given Eternal (her family’s promotion) will have a card the night before, and Cong Wang is someone I just want to see fight in person as much as I can. I’d be really excited for this fight if announced
Early Preliminary Card
· Marwan Rahiki v Joo Sang Yoo – Maybe it’s bold to predict a DWCS fighter for a UFC card, but this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it in one of these. Rahiki is special, and while he has a tough matchup on DWCS, I think he should still win a contract and be available to fight in his hometown. Yoo would be a fun stylistic matchup on the feet for Rahiki, and a potential opportunity to show off his grappling. A great way to introduce Rahiki to the Aussie audience
· Colby Thicknesse v Carlos Vera – Even without Volk main eventing the card, Thicknesse will be desperate for redemption in his hometown of Sydney. Having lost to Topuria on short notice in his UFC debut, I’d want Thicknesse to get someone like Vera, where he has the opportunity to really show out. Given that Thicknesse doesn’t have the strongest regional base behind him, slowly building him with guys like Vera to start with makes a lot of sense.
· Brando Pericic v Lukasz Brzeski – Brzeski isn’t exactly a superstar, but he does represent a step up in competition for Pericic relative to his other fights. Pericic will likely need a slower build given his lack of experience, and someone like Brzeski acts as a great stepping stone for him that will provide him with legitimate challenges to consider in camp, whilst still being incredibly winnable.
· Jono Micaleff v Charles Radtke – Radtke is no stranger to Sydney, having already won at this venue. Skill-wise wise this is about the type of fight Micaleff can expect to see next, and it’s a good opportunity for Micaleff to win over a lot of fans, given Radtke will be heavily booed in Sydney if he were to fight there, regardless of who he fought.