Two more fights have been officially announced for the UFC’s rapidly growing return to Perth, Australia next year.
UFC 284 is expected to be headlined by Australia’s own Alexander Volkanovski, moving up a weight class to face off with lightweight champ Islam Makhachev. On Monday, promotion officials revealed the latest additions to join that title fight, in the form of Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield, and Shannon Ross vs. Kleydson Rodrigues.
Australian light heavyweight Crute (12-3) will be returning to action after missing all of 2022. He’ll also be looking to snap a two-fight skid dating back to April 2021, when he fell to Anthony Smith following a leg injury. In his return that December, Crute was knocked out by Jamahal Hill, resulting in the first losing streak of his career.
Menifield (13-3) will enter the fight on the opposite trajectory, having won two straight. Most recently, he knocked out Misha Cirkunov; one fight prior, it was the infamous Askar Mozharov put away by hard-hitting 205’er.
At flyweight, meanwhile, Kleydson Rodrigues (7-2) and Shannon Ross (13-6) will both be in search of their first victory inside the octagon. Australia’s Ross will also be making his promotional debut in the fight, after coming up short on Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021.
Despite being finished on the show by Vinicius Salvador, Ross has been signed straight to the UFC, and will make his debut at home in the promotion’s first trip down under since prior to the coronavirus pandemic.
Taking place at the RAC Arena in Perth on February 11, 2022 (Feb. 12 locally), UFC 284 features the following reported match-ups:
- Islam Makhachev (c) vs. Alexander Volkanovski — for the UFC lightweight championship
- Josh Emmett vs. Yair Rodriguez — for the vacant interim UFC featherweight championship
- Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
- Justin Tafa vs. Parker Porter
- Tyson Pedro vs. Zhang Mingyang
- Joshua Culibao vs. Melsik Baghdasaryan
- Jack Jenkins vs. Don Shainis
- Jimmy Crute vs. Alonzo Menifield
- Kleydson Rodrigues vs. Shannon Ross
