Eternal MMA returns to Victoria this Saturday for the first time since May 2021, and it has been a long time coming. The promotion hasn’t even had an event scheduled in the state since the canceled Eternal 65 back in April 2022, which makes this weekend’s card something of a genuine occasion for Victorian fight fans. Geelong Arena plays host, and what’s been put together looks like a stacked night of action; the full card can be found here, and for those in Victoria, ticketing information is available here.
Eternal 107 goes live on UFC Fight Pass from 5:30 pm AEST on Saturday, June 13, 2026 – that’s 8:30 am EST / 5:30 am PST for those in the United States.
There’s something almost poetic about the return too: the last time Eternal held an event in Victoria, a certain Justin Van Heerden was on the card. He’s back again on Saturday, this time stepping up to lightweight in one of the evening’s most compelling storylines. As always, I won’t be making predictions here but rather, breaking down the fighters, their backstories, and where possible, what makes them tick technically. Let’s get into it.
Justin Van Heerden (18-10) vs. Emrehan Hekimoglu (5-2) – Lightweight
Few fighters in Australian regional MMA have earned the kind of respect that Justin Van Heerden commands. A genuine legend of the scene, he is a credentialled, relentless grappler with a sneaky technical striking game who has fought practically everyone worth fighting at featherweight over the last several years. Think of any relevant 145er in Australia or New Zealand who has competed regionally in the last six years, and JVH has either fought them or been scheduled to fight them. He is also, by all accounts, an incredibly humble and respectful person – one who has taken fights because he loves the sport, full stop, and has earned every bit of the reputation he carries through the blood, sweat, and tears he’s shed along the way.
Now 28 fights deep into his career with an 18-10 record, van Heerden is stepping up to lightweight for only the second time. It’s a move that may signal a winding down of the punishing featherweight cut, but it also raises a legitimate tactical question: how does a grinding, grappling-based game plan hold up against the typically bigger and stronger men who populate the 155-pound division? Coming off a third-round arm triangle loss to Kevin Kophamel in a fight for the interim Eternal Featherweight Championship, van Heerden now faces an opponent looking to do to him what he has so often done to others – finish the fight on the ground, and finish it early.
Emrehan Hekimoglu has become one of the more eye-catching names on the circuit since his return from a near-two-year absence. After a unanimous-decision loss to Michael Mannu and a camp switch to Absolute MMA under Simon Carson, Hekimoglu has come back looking like a fundamentally different fighter – arriving in noticeably better physical condition and backing it up with back-to-back first-round ankle locks that have been as emphatic as they have been quick.
A win over Jett Fisher is a genuine addition to the resume, even accounting for Fisher’s youth. The manner of that victory was impressive, and the result will only grow in significance as Fisher continues to develop. But there remain legitimate questions about how Hekimoglu’s game translates against the kind of sharpened, experienced, multi-dimensional fighter that van Heerden represents. The last time Hekimoglu faced a meaningful step up in competition, Mannu exposed the gaps. Van Heerden, with a career’s worth of hard rounds against the best the regional scene has to offer, is an altogether different proposition.
An ankle lock is not going to put JVH away, and this fight feels like the fullest examination of Hekimoglu’s development since his return – a genuine test of how deep those improvements under Carson actually run. If he can get the finish, he will be near the front of the line for a title shot, and if van Heerden can grind through it, it will be yet another chapter in the storied career of a man who simply refuses to make things easy for anyone.
Kim Tran (4-0) vs. Alish Smith (4-4) – Strawweight
Of all the fights on this card, this is arguably the one most likely to produce a genuine UFC prospect – and Kim Tran is the fighter closest to making that knock.
Tran was reportedly identified by the UFC as a potential Road to UFC participant, targeted for a bout against Farida Abdueva, before contractual obligations with ONE Championship unfortunately made that impossible. The fact that the UFC has already been circling says a great deal about the level she has been competing at. Since going 4-4 as an amateur, she has exploded as a professional – four wins in twelve months, including two knockouts in her most recent outings on ONE Friday Nights – a streak that has come together quickly enough to suggest she is approaching the ceiling of what the regional scene can offer. She trains out of Bones MMA in Torquay and will have a partisan crowd behind her in Geelong, even though she is fighting a fellow Victorian in Alish Smith.
Don’t mistake Smith’s 4-4 record for a lack of quality. She spent the last stretch of her career competing on the international circuit – Cage Warriors, LFL, and FURY – taking on the best available opposition and going 2-2 in that period, with losses to PFL signee Benita Van Rooij and Valerie Soto. Her record reflects the company she has kept rather than her ceiling, and she is a better fighter than her win-loss column suggests.
Smith is perhaps best known for significant upsets over Rhi Rhi Hudson and Olivia Ukmar – two fighters who were highly touted at the time – and her game is built for adversity. She is well-rounded, capable of damaging opponents both on the feet and on the ground, with a submission game that punishes complacency. She has also been willing to take on any fight available, including stepping up to flyweight to stay active against Lisa Kyriacou. If she can bring this fight to the mat, she has genuine paths to a result.
The more closely you examine this matchup, the more genuinely competitive it becomes. A win for Tran would set her squarely in the frame for a DWCS opportunity, while a win for Smith would reshape the strawweight picture considerably and represent one of the more meaningful upsets of her career.
Jett Fisher (3-2) vs. Jesse Swain (2-1) – Featherweight
There are storylines running through this fight that you couldn’t write, and both men arrive with a lot to prove.
Jett Fisher was one of the most hyped amateur prospects in the country – multiple championship wins, almost entirely by submission, all before his 20th birthday. The imposing grappling instincts he showed during that period, combined with genuine strength for his age, had people talking. He was submitted twice in the amateurs and lost his final bout by decision, so the holes were there, but the talent was unmistakable, particularly at such a young age.
His professional career has been bumpier. Losses to Oscar Marlow in his debut and to Emrehan Hemikoglu in his fourth fight punctuated what many anticipated would be a seamless transition to the pro ranks. The Marlow fight in particular exposed some issues on the feet – Fisher struggled when he couldn’t get the fight to the ground, and Marlow found advantageous positions himself when Fisher committed fully to the takedown. That said, Fisher’s most recent outing – a 20-second first-round knockout of Alex Poniris – was his first career finish by strikes in either amateur or professional competition. Whether that signals a genuine evolution on the feet or simply a good night is exactly the kind of question this fight against Swain should help answer.
At 21, he has time and talent in abundance. It’s worth briefly mentioning, too, that his younger brother, Kage Fisher, is making noise as a 6-1 amateur prospect himself, with the family clearly breeding a fighting pedigree.
The off-cage subplot adds some extra spice: Fisher has been training with van Heerden – Swain’s former opponent – in preparation for this camp, a detail that made its way onto social media and generated some friction between the two fighters heading in.
Jesse Swain arrived as a professional with a statement – two first-round knockouts in a combined two minutes – before taking on van Heerden and experiencing first-hand what a seasoned, grappling-heavy veteran does to a young, powerful striker. It was a steep step up in competition, and that loss carries very different weight to a defeat against someone further down the food chain. A product of the late Suman Moktarian, Swain has a technically grounded base, genuine grappling capability, and a striking game that can do serious damage when it lands. Now training at Sydney West MMA under Luke Martin, Swain has already positioned himself well as a 2-1 fighter, and a win here against Fisher could have him knocking on the door of the title conversation depending on Seb Szalay’s status.
Both men have points to make, and the friction that has built up heading in should make for a lively fight. This is a genuinely competitive fight between two rising prospects, and, for me, one of the most intriguing fights on the entire card because of how many questions it should answer about each prospect.
Dee Samasoni (3-1) vs. Connor Downey (3-1) – Welterweight
There is a lot on the line here for both men, with the loser facing some pointed questions about where they fit in the welterweight division and the winner catapulting themselves towards the title in an arguably relatively thin division.
Dee Samasoni came out of the blocks with an impressive 3-0 professional start before being outclassed by a better Alfred Stoddart in his most recent outing. Just three months separate that defeat and this fight, which doesn’t leave much runway for significant adjustments – but it does make this a real-time test of how quickly Samasoni can absorb and apply lessons from adversity. A second consecutive loss in the space of a few months, after such a bright opening to his career, would be a difficult setback to shake narratively. It isn’t something he couldn’t come back from, but it would certainly represent a meaningful setback in his ambitions.
Connor Downey is an interesting prospect who has been quietly building a solid resume. His lone professional loss came to Nate Law – himself a decent prospect at 170 – and he comes in off the back of a win over Loni Filimoehala, which is genuine title-contender territory given Filimoehala was recently booked for the championship. Primarily a submission threat, Downey has begun to show more dimension in his striking, an encouraging sign of development. A three-fight winning streak that includes his win over Filimoehala would make him a fighter who belongs in the welterweight conversation without question.
The winner of this fight should firmly establish themselves as a legitimate divisional force, and in my opinion it will likely come down to who wants it more when the going gets hard.
Mayson Nobetsu (2-2) vs. Josh O’Brien (1-1) – Featherweight
This one has the makings of a banger, and every indication points towards another finish for either man.
Mayson Nobetsu, trained by Simon Carson at Absolute MMA, has gone four-for-four in finishes across his professional career – wins and losses alike have ended before the final horn. He has a striking base complemented by genuine grappling ability, has competed against quality opposition in Tasar Malone, Brogan Stewart-NG and Jett Fisher, and holds a 25-second first-round knockout of Alex Poniris. His submission loss to Malone should be viewed in context – Malone is strong opposition – rather than as a red flag. The body of work as a whole is solid for someone at his stage, and a finish here, particularly over a fighter with O’Brien’s following, would catapult him up the 145-pound rankings.
Josh O’Brien has been generating a quiet head of steam since his amateur days, and for good reason. He can land heavy punches and has caused problems for quality fighters like Dominic Aston. He lost a closely contested split decision to Mitch Kelly in his last fight, which many observers – including me – felt could have gone his way, given how thoroughly he won the stand-up exchanges. But Kelly’s wrestling was ultimately the difference, and the ability to take O’Brien down and neutralize his best weapon with limited resistance was a clear tactical blueprint for what works against him. I’d imagine Nobetsu and his team will have taken note.
O’Brien has shown the ability to adjust and learn quickly in fights – it was evident against Aston – so the question is how much time and focus have genuinely gone into grappling since Kelly. Against Nobetsu, he will almost certainly need to answer that question. Both men want the finish, and with their skillsets paired with that shared mentality, they should produce something well worth watching.
Val Sharipov (3-2) vs. Alexander Poniris (2-3) – Featherweight
Val Sharipov arrives on a two-fight losing streak, but context is important: knockout losses to Alastair Volders and a split decision defeat to Ethan Mitchell are not results that speak to problems with the fighter – they speak to the quality of opposition he consistently seeks out. Across both his amateur and professional careers, his experience now includes Sem Kakembo, Kris Ustijanovski, Tawny Papaikonomou, Darcy Spowart, Bjorn Leitch, Volders, and Mitchell – a formidable back catalog for someone at this stage of their development.
He is an imposing, technically sound wrestler with genuine control and an eye for submissions without forcing the issue. The vulnerability that prior opponents have found is on the feet – when his wrestling-first approach is read early and neutralized, he can be caught. Getting the fight to the canvas remains his clearest path to victory, and against most opponents on the regional scene, he has more than enough tools to make that happen.
Alexander Poniris comes in with a 6-1 amateur record and an amateur title with Samurai; however, he has struggled with the transition to the professional level, holding a 2-3 record. His lone amateur loss also came to Dominic Aston, which is far from disrespectable company. At the professional level, all three of his defeats have come by first-round knockout – including a 20-second finish at the hands of Jett Fisher that would have done little to build confidence. He has shown throughout his amateur career that he can beat quality fighters, but the professional environment has exposed a fragility on the feet that Sharipov – operating primarily as a grappler – is not necessarily in the best position to exploit, which is the interesting wrinkle in this matchup.
For Poniris, this is an opportunity to re-establish the hype that surrounded him out of his amateur run. For Sharipov, it is about ending the losing skid and getting back into the conversation at 145.
Kourosh Arvan (3-2 AM) – Welterweight
At just 19 years old and training out of Bones MMA, Kourosh Arvan is a name worth bookmarking at 170 pounds – even with a current 3-2 professional record that doesn’t yet reflect what many who have closely watched him believe his ceiling to be.
His two losses have come to Kye Bicknell – a genuinely underrated fighter who doesn’t receive the attention he deserves – and to Isaac Rendall by knockout, with Rendall himself having been on a serious run of form before his own stoppage loss to Blake Maryska at Vital Kombat 5 in February. The quality of those opponents matters enormously in evaluating where Arvan actually sits. He has been spoken about in glowing terms by respected figures in the amateur community, the kind of endorsement from people who have seen hundreds of fighters come through the system that carries genuine weight.
This marks his first appearance in the cage since the Rendall defeat roughly a year ago, and the question – as it always is after a relatively extended absence at this point in a career – is how that time away has shaped him. Whether the experience of back-to-back losses has produced the kind of reflection that tends to separate genuinely promising fighters from those who plateau. A win here, and the conversation around Arvan as a legitimate welterweight prospect should start picking up considerably. It is also worth noting that his sister, Ana Arvan, fights on the preliminary card too, so this will be a family affair for the Arvans.
