The UFC rolls into Perth, Australia this weekend – or perhaps we should say limps into.
UFC Perth, 2025 edition, was never a great card on paper, but it has been besieged by injury and fight cancellations on top of that. Both Tafa brothers, Justin and Junior, have withdrawn from the card, with Justin Tafa making his exit on weigh-in day. During Fight Week, Oban Elliott was forced to withdraw as well. Earlier on, Doo-Ho Choi was forced out of the event.
With zero offense to Jimmy Crute, who deserves to be where he is, a fight with the 0-2 Ivan Erslan probably shouldn’t be a co-main event. Yet here we are, with a card that looks more like an Apex event than one that has fans in the building (though how many remains to be seen after a myriad of reports regarding slow ticket sales).
All that said, there’s a key fight for the light heavyweight division atop UFC Perth. Carlos Ulberg, a City Kickboxing star, has been one of the hottest hands at 205lbs of late, putting together an eight-fight win streak that includes a victory over ex-champ Jan Blachowicz. His opponent in Saturday’s (well, Sunday locally) headliner, Dominick Reyes, remains best known for a very close fight with then-champ Jon Jones. After a four-fight skid that started with his loss to “Bones,” Reyes has finally put some wins together. Three, in fact, and knocking off Ulberg might put him back in the title picture.
With Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira 2 just around the corner, this fight could just produce the next title challenger in the light heavyweight division.
Our picks are in for the UFC Perth main card, and here’s how we see it playing out.
| Writer / Fight | Nolan vs. Campbell | Matthews vs. Magny | Jenkins vs. Taveras | Crute vs. Erslan | Ulberg vs. Reyes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Behunin (100-59) |  |  |  |  |  |
| Eddie Law (102-63) | | | | | |
| Mathis Desjardins (97-62) |  | | | |  |
| Chris Prawdzik (74-49) | | | | | |
| Brett Cagle (85-64) | | | | | |
| Jay Anderson (97-68) | | | | | |
| Dylan Rush (12-1) | | | | | |
Jimmy Crute, Jake Matthews, and Jack Jenkins were unanimous selections among our team, while the main event is a little more even, with Carlos Ulberg a slight favorite. Still, this one is coming down to a pick ’em.
