Eternal MMA returns to Geelong for the second time in 2026, and this time they’re bringing a title fight with them. A Welterweight championship bout headlining in one of the competing fighters’ hometowns, a flyweight matchup that should be an outright war, and two top amateur prospects going at it in a 155-pound clash that will, in many ways, shape Lightweight at the amateur level in Australia. This is far from a filler card – here is everything you need to know about Eternal 109.
Loni Filimoehala (4-2) v Sam Marles (3-1) – Welterweight Title
The headlining fight puts the Eternal Welterweight Championship on the line, with Dunstandeathsquad’s Loni Filimoehala defending against Absolute MMA’s Sam Marles – who will be fighting in his Geelong hometown in front of what is sure to be a loud, partisan crowd.
If you’ve been following the Australian MMA scene and you haven’t heard of Filimoehala, you have been missing out, and not only because of what he does inside the cage. He is arguably the most entertaining personality the scene has produced since the infamous Farhood. Give him a microphone and you will at minimum be entertained, and very likely find yourself laughing when he drops one of his fabled bars. But the personality does not exist in a vacuum – the fighting credentials back it up.
Filimoehala has a deep amateur foundation, winning titles at XFC and competing at both GAMMA and IMMAF. Professionally, he has finished all four of his wins, which tells you he’s dangerous in all phases. His grappling is a genuine threat, and his hands carry enough on them to keep opponents honest on the feet. The main question mark heading into this fight is his defensive awareness – it has come under scrutiny at points in his career, and against a well-rounded fighter like Marles, any lapses are sure to be punished.
On the other hand, Marles enters this fight as the hometown favorite and staring down the biggest opportunity of his professional career. His record across his professional and amateur careers shows that Marles is a versatile finisher who can also win over the course of 15 minutes. Marles doesn’t necessarily rely on a single path to victory, which can be both a blessing and a curse; however, his most recent win over Nate Law was the kind of statement performance that puts a fighter not only firmly in title contention, but on the radar of top global promotions.
An interesting piece of context around Marles beyond the cage: he is the son of current Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, marking an exceedingly rare crossover between federal politics and regional MMA. Whether that, paired with the hometown element, adds pressure or motivation is a question only Marles can answer – but the crowd at Geelong Arena on Saturday night will not be short of opinion either way.
Michael Alsop (2-1) v Moses Deng (2-3) – Flyweight
Credit to the matchmakers for putting this one together, and credit to both fighters and their teams for not shying away from a tough fight even while coming off losses. This is the kind of bout that gets overlooked because it’s not the title fight – but it’s almost certainly going to be one of the most entertaining bouts on the card.
Deng’s record looks mixed on paper, but context matters. He has struggled at 135 pounds, where his frame works against him, and opponents are often physical enough to neutralize him in the clinch and on the mat. Back at flyweight, where he genuinely belongs and holds a 2-1 record, the picture significantly changes. Deng is a crafty, quick striker with legitimate KO power, and he faces physically weaker opponents who cannot bully him the way bantamweights have been able to. His record at 125 pounds reflects a fighter who is not only competitive, but poses genuine danger to opponents.
Alsop is coming off a rough night in the office against Perci Mwambi, who cut him up badly with elbows in what had stood to be a big opportunity not only with potential title implications, but potential future UFC implications too with the brass in attendance. Alsop did not show his best in that fight – it was a performance that left more questions ultimately than answers. The key word there is ‘questions’, because at his best, that fight is far more competitive. The genuine unknown heading into Saturday is how much he has grown since then, and whether that loss triggered the kind of reset that produces better fighters on the other side of it.
I really like both guys here on a personal level, so it honestly sucks to have to see one of them lose, but at least the winner will have set themselves up in a big way for a divisional resurgence.
Jett Fisher (3-3) v Andrew Patara (0-2) – Featherweight
Fisher’s story is one of the more interesting ones on the card, and not in an entirely comfortable way. At 19, he was one of the most talked-about amateur prospects in the country – a 10-2 record, multiple titles across different promotions, and enough quality experience to generate genuine excitement about his professional trajectory. He is now 21, sitting at 3-3 professionally, and coming off a nine-second head kick KO loss to Jesse Swain just two months ago.
Nine seconds is a brutal way to lose. It raises questions – about his chin, his defensive instincts, and whether the amateur pedigree was always going to be tougher to translate than the hype suggested. Fisher is still young enough that none of this is fatal to his career, but the window for “young prospect with upside” does not stay open indefinitely. This fight needs to be a statement, and a clean, convincing one at that.
His team and family would not have cleared him to fight if they had real concerns about his readiness – so taking this fight this soon is not necessarily reckless, but it does raise the question of whether time away might have served him better than a fast turnaround, particularly if he is to lose this fight.
Adnan Larry (4-4) v Charles Joyner (4-4-1) – Heavyweight
At the end of 2024, Joyner was 4-1 and generating legitimate DWCS interest. Then the wheels came off – a run of knockouts, including the infamous fake glove touch KO loss to Yannick Bahati, dragged him out of UFC contention and back to an even record. He has returned to Australia, and this fight against Larry is essentially his reset fight – the one where he needs to look like the fighter who had the UFC paying attention, not the one who has been on the wrong end of highlight reels.
Larry is a fixture of the Australian heavyweight scene with a mixed professional record following a solid amateur run. He is in better recent form than Joyner, though that needs context given his last fight was against opposition that, frankly, didn’t have much business being in there with him. This is a genuine step up for him – Joyner is better competition than anything Larry has faced before, and he has a strong social media presence that makes a win here more visible than usual.
Kage Fisher (6-1 AM) v Paddy Cameron (6-1 AM) – Amateur Lightweight
One of the genuinely anticipated amateur matchups on the card, and the stakes are high with the winner almost certainly getting a strong promotional push toward their professional debut.
Cameron, out of the well-regarded Scrappy MMA setup, has been on a tear since debuting in mid-2023. His lone loss came against Nima Behrouz by split decision in a fight many, including myself, thought he deserved to win. He is coming off a third-round KO win over Dion Arvan in May and carries genuine momentum heading into this.
Fisher competes in front of his home crowd with added motivation – his older brother Jett is fighting later in the professional portion of the card. Family and friends in the crowd, home crowd behind him. That is a lot of fuel to win. Kage has already announced himself as one of the best amateur prospects in the country, with his lone loss coming to Brad Fulmer in what was also another clash between top amateur prospects.
This fight comes down to who can blend their styles more seamlessly when the pressure is on. At this level of amateurs, that question rarely has an easy answer.
Other Prospects to Note
Max de Been (0-0) – Pro Debut
De Been carries one of the most recognizable surnames in Australian BJJ circles. Son of Aussie BJJ pioneer Peter de Been, Max has built his own credentials: seven-time Australian National Champion, an 11-time Pan Pacific Champion, a Brazilian National Champion, and a third-place finish at the 2020 IBJJF World Championships. He has been cross-training at Absolute MMA under coach Simon Carson and alongside UFC Featherweight Jack Jenkins, which adds striking and MMA-specific development to an already strong grappling foundation. Debut performances rarely tell you everything, but watch for how his grappling translates, whether he can keep opponents where he wants them on the ground, and how he’s able to handle himself in the striking.
Kourosh Arvan (0-0) – Pro Debut
Born in 2006, Arvan is not yet 20 years old, and his 4-2 amateur record undersells what he actually is. Those two losses came against Kye Bicknell and Isaac Rendell, which is not bad company to be sharing a scorecard with at his age. He is raw, genuinely raw, but the athletic base is there, and his rate of improvement has been worth tracking. A prospect to watch rather than a guaranteed star, but the ceiling is interesting to say the least.
Antonio Cesaro (6-4 AM)
Cesaro’s record does not shout at you from across the room, but digging in does. Before his last bout, he was on an extended tear at Diamondback in South Australia, claiming both the Bantamweight and Featherweight championships to become a double champion for the promotion. All six of his wins have come inside the distance, spread across all rounds, highlighting his danger throughout. A big stage like Eternal is the right place to announce himself to a wider audience, and I’m personally excited to finally see Cesaro in action given his tape is heavily pay-walled.
