UFC Perth was a very successful event for the region as Oceanic fighters went 10-1 on the night with Ulberg capping the night off with a stunning knockout. UFC regulars like Jimmy Crute and Jamie Mullarkey got nice wins, prospects Tom Nolan and Colby Thicknesse got their hands raised, while Brando Pericic, Michelle Montague and Cam Rowston won their promotional debuts. Before we move onto UFC 320, let’s first take a look at what’s next for our main card winners.

Carlos Ulberg

People said the reason Carlos Ulberg wasn’t awarded a title shot despite his eight-fight win streak was due to a lack of a true signature win. The first half of his streak was filled with finishes, but against lower-level opponents. His last two wins were good in terms of name value, defeating Volkan Oezdemir and Jan Blachowicz, but were way too cautious, bordering on “boring” territory. Well, this spectacular first-round KO of Dominick Reyes in his first ever main event should finally seal the deal. Yes, there is a fight between Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree Jr. next week, but those two are way too violent to have the winner come out unscathed and ready to turn around for a title shot. For that reason, Ulberg now currently holds a firm grip over the number one contender slot.

Ulberg’s next fight: Title shot

Jimmy Crute

Jimmy Crute looked on the brink of retirement after dropping his rematch to Alonzo Menifield back in 2023. But lo and behold, the Aussie is now on his first win streak in five years after two first-round submissions. Though they called it a rear-naked choke on the official decision, this one looked more like a “camel clutch.” Whatever you want to call it, Crute is now back on track. Crute now has a claim to fight for what he once held: a spot in the rankings. I think a meeting with “The Mountain Tiger” would make sense.

Crute’s next fight: Zhang Mingyang

Jack Jenkins

This was a nice bounce back win for Jack Jenkins, who was coming off a tough loss to Gabriel Santos in February. He earned a wide unanimous decision after controlling Ramon Taveras for most of the bout. Jenkins came into the UFC with quite a bit of promise, but an arm injury against Chepe Mariscal and the aforementioned loss to Santos have made it hard for him to garner any momentum. Let’s see if he can finally get a convincing streak going by not rushing him too quickly. I’d be curious to see how Jenkins would deal with a fighter like Fernando Padilla. Being 6’1” with a 76” reach, the Mexican is an interesting test for any featherweight.

Jenkins’ next fight: Fernando Padilla

Neil Magny

He has done it again. “The Haitian Sensation” came in as a big betting underdog, proceeded to lose the first two rounds, then pulled a rabbit out of his hat and found a finish in the third round. The 38-year-old Neil Magny now finds himself on his first win streak since 2020.

Believe it or not, there are still some welterweights out there who Magny hasn’t fought yet. A fight with Kevin Holland or Vicente Luque would interest me, but they’re both currently booked for next month. However, win or lose against Mike Malott, I think I slightly prefer the Kevin Holland fight.

Magny’s next fight: Kevin Holland

Tom Nolan

After a rocky start to his UFC career, Tom Nolan has now rattled off four consecutive victories. Despite being a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, this was Nolan’s first professional win by submission. It also marked the first time Charlie Campbell was submitted. Yes, the win was nice and kept Nolan’s momentum going, but he did get hit a bit too much for me to really push him up the ladder. I’d rather keep steadily increasing his level of competition than throw him to the wolves. There is a fight going down next month in Vancouver between veterans of the game Kyle Prepolec and Drew Dober: two 36-year-olds who should still be tough enough to test the young Australian.

Nolan’s next fight: Prepolec/Dober winner

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If you count New Zealand’s Carlos Ulberg (let’s just call it Team Oceania), then all four bonuses winners on the much-maligned Fight Night card were local favorites. The event, which struggled to sell tickets, still produced some solid action, especially in the main and co-main events.

All four bonuses awarded were of the Performance of the Night variety. No Fight of the Night was handed out at UFC Perth.

In the co-headliner, Australia’s Jimmy Crute earned his second straight win, with what was announced as a rear-naked choke against Ivan Erslan. In reality, Crute appeared to catch the KSW veteran in something more akin to a Camel Clutch, cranking until Erslan was forced to tap.

There was no tap from Dominick Cruz in the main event – he was knocked out cold by Carlos Ulberg, who dropped him with a 1-2 then followed up with a few ground strikes. Ulberg, a City Kickboxing star known as “Black Jag,” has now won nine straight in the UFC’s light heavyweight division. It’s hard to envision a world where Ulberg doesn’t fight for gold next, though Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira 2 has to happen first.

The remaining two bonus winners at UFC Perth were Tom Nolan and Brando Pericic, both Australians. Pericic was making his promotional debut, and put away Elisha Ellison with some heavy punches from the top, blows that left Ellison down and out for some time.

After the bout, Pericic revealed that he had taken a $100,000 loan to pursue fighting in the UFC, and called for a bonus to help pay it off. Wish granted.

All four bonuses winners pick up the usual $50,000 U.S. on top of their purse (usual, that is, until the Paramount+ deal kicks in next year).

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The Perth Fight Night event had taken several hits, leading to an improved Crute, coming off a victory over Rodolfo Bellato, taking on the 0-2 KSW vet Erslan.

Crute landed a takedown early in Saturday’s opening round, and while Erslan got back to his feet, he had one problem: he wound up carrying Crute like a backpack. Crute would end up sweeping as they went to the ground, getting to mount. After that, it was Crute taking the back and working to flatten out Erslan. He didn’t even need to do so fully, instead cranking on the neck, arms under the chin. Erslan looked to be in some serious discomfort and was quickly forced to tap!

Since returning from a hiatus earlier this year, Jimmy Crute is now undefeated through three fights, with a 2-0-1 record. With the Erslan win at UFC Perth, he’s won back-to-back fights for the first time since 2020.

Announced as a rear-naked choke, when questioned about what to call the submission by Paul Felder, Crute replied “I don’t know, but I f*cking love it!” Crute then called for a spot on a yet-to-be announced card in Sydney, Australia in February.

Official Result: Jimmy Crute def. Ivan Erslan by submission (rear-naked choke), Round 1, 3:19

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It’s safe to say that Crute (13-4-2) is happy with the promotion. He also sees a number of areas he can beat opponent Ivan Erslan in, not just in the grappling department, he said during this week’s media day.

“I think I can beat him in a lot of other places. Obviously there’s a big skill discrepancy with the grappling, but I can touch him up too, don’t worry about that,” promised Crute.

Erslan has found considerable success outside the UFC, but is on a two-fight skid inside the octagon. He’s seeing UFC Perth as a huge opportunity to right the ship, but Crute seems to think he’s reading too much into it.

“I noticed when I watched tape on him, he had more composure in his second UFC fight than he did in his first. That might be because of his opponent difference, but I don’t really care,” stated Crute. “I think he might be overthinking it a bit.”

Known for fan-pleasing brawls in the cage, Crute isn’t going out to intentionally get in a barnburner. “I just go out there and fight, man. I can’t help but to get into exciting fights,” noted Crute. “It’s just my style.”

A few years back, Crute took a self-imposed sabbatical from fighting, after becoming too obsessive over it. He’s now learned the importance of rest and recovery, though he does have to keep after himself.

“I’m at peace with it, but I do have to remind myself quite often. It’s a constant war between wanting to do more and knowing when to rest and stuff,” he stated. “But I’m much better at it than I used to be.”

Watch the full UFC Perth media day appearance by Jimmy Crute above.

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It wasn’t the comeback Crute, winless since 2020, wanted, instead dropping him to 0-3-2 across five fights. That changed this past Saturday at UFC 318, however. Finally getting a particularly nasty monkey off his back, Australia’s Crute (13-4-2) put away Marcin Prachnio with an arm-bar.

“I’m happy to be alive every day, so victory is just the cherry on top,” Crute told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout. Though he’d soon admit the win mattered more than he was letting on.

“This week was a roller coaster for sure. The nerves were up and down. I sort of played it off before, but getting a victory does mean a lot. Because I put so much work into this. I really put everything into this. Every waking moment, I’m training or I’m thinking about training. So for it to pay off, it’s nice.”

Crute is still just shy of 30, and didn’t have all that much experience prior to landing in the UFC. As a result, he’s done most of his growing on MMA’s biggest stage.

“I’ve been learning on the job. I had one amateur fight, seven pro wins, and outside of that I had like fifty jiu-jitsu matches on the regional scene in Australia. No striking matches,” noted Crute. “So I’ve been learning on the job pretty much in the UFC. I don’t have much experience in the way of fights, so I feel like it’s my time to shine now.”

With a win under him and now in his prime, Crute is starting to see bigger things moving forward. “I see a world title in my future for the first time in my career. I’ve never been able to visualize it.”

After his win on Saturday, he called out Dustin Jacoby, who he referred to as a “crafty dude.” It’s just the name that came to mind, he explained. “I just think it’s a good fight for both of us, it’s a good test for both of us.”

Watch the full UFC 318 post-fight press conference with Jimmy Crute above.

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Crute (12-4-2) has had the a strange run in the UFC with freak injuries and not one, but two draws on his promotional record. Last time out he fought Rodolfo Bellato to a draw at UFC 312. A win over Prachnio would gain him some momentum going into the rest of 2025.

Prachnio (17-8) has been out since last July when he dropped a fight against Modestas Bukauskas at UFC 304. The Polish fighter holds victories over Devin Clark, William Knight and Khalil Rountree.

Round 1 Prachnio came out with is usual funky footwork and angles. Crute took the middle and Prachnio worked on the outside landing shots from different angles. Crute tried to stay patient, but clearly got frustrated a few moments in the round.

Crute scored a takedown going for a single and getting double ending up on top of Prachnio and working to posture up and land shots. Prachnio got his legs into play kicking Crute off him and getting back to his feet.

Prachnio looked for his own takedown which Crute used to end up on top and went for a funky choke that didn’t workout. They got back to the feet. Crute shot in for a single, Prachnio defended it, but ended up in a scramble with Crute.

Crute wasted no time. He grabbed the arm and went for the arm bar finishing the fight in the first round.

Fifth UFC victory for the one Jimmy Crute.

Official Results: Jimmy Crute def. Marcin Prachnio via R1 SUB (Arm Bar), 4:42

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It was a hometown homecoming for Crute, whose last action had been a July 2023 loss against Alonzo Menifield.

Crute, the smaller man in the cage at the Qudos Bank Arena on Saturday, showed a bit of flash early, firing a spinning back kick. Not much came from it, but Crute then reversed a Bellato takedown attempt, quickly moved to mount, and threatened with an arm-triangle choke. Bellato, perhaps a bit overwhelmed, managed to fend off the submission and reclaim half-guard. Jimmy Crute, however, would spend the bulk of the round on top, in a fantastic start that saw him find just enough room to land a bit of ground n’ pound, while not emptying the tank or taking any damage himself.

In the final 30 seconds, Bellato got back up, but Crute tagged him, then dropped him moments later! Crute pounced, firing elbows, but Bellato somehow survived the round. Very much worse for the wear.

Round two opened with Bellato almost certainly still compromised. Crute took the fight too him, leaning into punches and seemingly forgetting the success he had on the ground in the opening round. In a clinch, however, Crute popped off two or three textbook uppercuts. Bellato went to the body, but was showing signs of fatigue, hands down, movement clunky. Two minutes in, and Crute finally shot, staying on the attempt only for Bellato to scramble back, escaping. Crute then fired off another spinning kick to the midsection, while Bellato chopped at his lead leg.

The back half of the round found Crute slowing as well, however. His mouth was open, and Bellato’s strikes were having a little more effect. Both men landed in an exchange, and Bellato worked over the body some more. By the end of the round, Bellato had managed to force Crute to retreat once or twice. The Brazilian himself was bloodied, but another low kick saw Crute shaking out his leg.

If Bellato had managed to steal round two late, the fight was up for grabs in the third. If not, the Brazilian would be in need of a finish. Crute shot for a takedown early in the third, but Bellato scrambled free. Crute then punched his way into the pocket, with Bellato backing out, regrouping, and landing a heavy leg kick. Each and every leg kick seemed to be having more of an effect on Crute, even as he continued to land on the larger man. And just past the midway mark, it was Rodolfo Bellato landing a takedown of his own. Crute got up, went back down to a knee, then exploded out, not staying down long.

Back on the feet, Crute continued to attack, but the counters of Bellato were having more of an effect. Bellato fired off a couple of punches that had some real heat behind him. They finished the round brawling, heading to the scorecards in a hard-fought affair that was entertaining from start to finish.

With the scorecards very much in question, a draw was in play. And that’s what was announced, a majority draw, with 28-28 scores from two judges.

Official Result: Jimmy Crute vs. Rodolfo Bellato ends in a majority draw (29-27, 28-28, 28-28)

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Instead, the Australian returns to action at UFC 312 in Sydney this Saturday, picking up where he left off in a division he now sees as “wide open.”

“It’s wide open. I do always pay attention to what’s happening, at light heavyweight especially. Even if I don’t watch it, I just keep tabs on it,” Crute (12-4-1) told media outlets including Cageside Press during Wednesday’s media day. “It’s wide open, there’s big opportunities to be had here. I feel like I’m in a perfect spot to re-introduce myself.”

Of course, there was always the possibility that this return wouldn’t come. Crute is fighting Rodolfo Bellato at UFC 312, but he just as easily could be slugging bags of cement. And he would have been just fine with it.

“I sort of realized while I was away that I could do anything I wanted. It was quite a freeing thing,” revealed Crute. “I went and did some concrete, I went and did some work with my mates. I thought ‘oh this is actually quite easy, this is an easy way to make a living.’ It’s much easier than I thought it would be. I used to work a lot before I got into the UFC too, I’m not scared of a hard day’s work.”

“To me though, there’s just so much left undone here,” he added. “I don’t ever want to work for the man again.” Yet having said that, Crute finished his thought by saying “I’d have a good life with or without this.”

It’s been a year and a half, more even, since Jimmy Crute last fought. Even longer since he’s won a fight. That would be October of 2020, when he knocked out Modestas Bukauskas. Asked whether he felt written off at all of 28 years old, Crute replied “Maybe. I don’t care.”

Watch the full UFC 312 media day appearance by Jimmy Crute above.

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Crute (12-4-1) will face Marcin Prachnio (17-8) at the event, which will take place at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney on February 9, 2025. The first three bouts attached to the card were recently announced by UFC officials.

In addition to Crute vs. Pracnio, flyweights Rei Tsuruya (10-0) and Stewart Nicoll (8-1) will collide, while at lightweight, Quillan Salkilld (7-1) will take on India’s Anshul Jubli (7-1).

Australia’s Jimmy Crute has not competed since a submission loss to Alonzo Menifield at UFC 290 in July of 2023. Following the loss, Crute, who is 0-3-1 in his last four fights, announced he was taking the break from the sport, suggesting it had become an “unhealthy obsession” for him.

Prior to his current slump, Jimmy Crute had compiled a 12-1 record to start his career.

Poland’s Marcin Pracnio has been trading wins and losses since 2021, and most recently found himself caught in an arm-triangle choke and submitted by Modestas Bukauskas this past July.

Japanese flyweight Rei Tsuruya has put together an unbeaten 10-0 record to start his professional fighting career. A standout wrestler, Tsuruya is a former Pancrase champ who dominated on Road to UFC, and won his UFC debut earlier this year with a unanimous decision victory over Carlos Hernandez.

Opponent Nicoll, fighting at home in Australia, will be looking to bounce back from a loss to Jesus Aguilar come February.

Crute vs. Prachnio, Tsuruya vs. Nicoll, and Salkilld vs. Jubli are the only fights announced for UFC 312 thus far.

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“I felt like I was in cement. So to get this W, and the way I did it, I’m like yeah,” Menifield told reporters including Cageside Press on Saturday night.

“This felt like a hell of a long, long, long camp. I kept thinking about that third round and I was disgusted. So I didn’t give a damn. I was ready.”

This time around Menifield took advantage of a tired Crute to put the finishing touches on a guillotine choke to get the submission win.

“He was going for the single leg, and based on his head position going to my right, I said there it is. And I clamped him,” he said.

“First I was going to go for a true guillotine and then the way his head rolled to the right, I went over the shoulder and clamped it.”

Following the fight Crute was seen taking his gloves off almost as to signal that this was it for him, but his coaches seemed to be able to talk him out of it for the moment. Menifield saw it and went over to say a few words to his opponent.

“Jimmy Crute is young. When you fall down, I just wanted him to know, you get back up. We all been there as fighters, as people in life, so for him it’s like hey man keep going. You young as sh*t,” he said.

Aside from the draw against Crute the first time around, Menifield has three straight victories in the octagon. With that kind of momentum comes the ability to ask for a bigger fight.

“Give me the fights. Give me the dinero (money). With that I’m happy,” he said.

“I’ve got six people including myself to provide to. Whoever. Line them up.”

Watch the entire post-fight scrum with Alonzo Menifield above.

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