In partnership with the Government of Western Australia, through Tourism Western Australia, this event marks the return of the UFC to Perth with a Pay-Per-View event following the success of UFC 221: ROMERO vs. ROCKHOLD in February 2018 in front of a full house.
Tickets for UFC 284: MAKHACHEV vs. VOLKANOVSKY put up for sale on Friday, November 18 at 10 a.m. AWST / 1 p.m. AEDT and are available for purchase at ticketek.com.au . Tickets are limited to six (6) tickets per person. UFC Fight Club members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets on Wednesday, Nov. 16 at 10:00 a.m. AWST through the website www.ufcfightclub.com. A special online ticket presale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers on Thursday, November 17, beginning at 10:00 a.m. AWST. Tickets limited to four (4) tickets per person. To access this presale, fans can register at UFC.com/Perth.
Australian legend, Alex Volkanovski (25-1, fighter in Windang, NSW) will attempt to make history again by becoming the first Australian to achieve double champion status. Volk is set to take on UFC lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev (23-1, fighter from Makhachkala, Russia) who scored an impressive submission win over Brazilian Charles Oliveira to win the undisputed lightweight championship just last month.
For the afternoon co-main event, the UFC’s top featherweights Yair “El Pantera” Rodriguez and Josh Emmet will compete for the UFC interim featherweight title, with the winner facing UFC featherweight champion Volkanovski at a later date. UFC No. 2 featherweight Rodriguez (14-3, 1 NC, fighter out of Chicago, IL) is coming off a victory over Brian Ortega at UFC Long Island last July. The Mexican-born striker has suffered only one defeat in his last five fights. California native Emmett (18-2, fighter out of Sacramento, Calif.), currently ranked No. 5 in UFC featherweight, has five straight wins and is coming off a split decision victory over Calvin Kattar in June.
In another highlight for Australian fans, the UFC No. 1 middleweight and former champion, Robert “The Reaper” Whittaker (25-6-0, fighting in Sydney Australia) will face the No. 6 ranked middleweights, Paulo “The Gum” Costa (14-2-0, Contagem fighter, Minas Gerais, Brazil) in the three-round middleweight bout. Beloved Bobby Knuckles was originally scheduled to face the Brazilian powerhouse in April 2021, but Costa pulled out due to illness, leaving Whittaker to finally face Californian Kelvin Gastelum. Whittaker has been on an absolute tear since his loss to Adesanya, keeping him in that No. 1 spot and no doubt ready to put on another showstopper for the fans.
Also joining two of Australia’s best on the stacked summer card will be:
- Returning to the Octagon, UFC heavyweight Justin Tafa (5-3, fight in Brisbane, Australia) will face American, Parker Porter (13-7, fight in Hartford, Connecticut)
- UFC light heavyweight and Western Sydney fan favorite, Tyson Pedro (9-3, fighting in Sydney, Australia) will face a rookie Zhang Ming Yang (16-6, fight in Qingdao, China) leaving UFC On the way to the UFC
- UFC light heavyweights, Jimmy Crute (12-3, fighter in Melbourne, Australia) returning to the Octagon after injury to pick up the win against Alonzo Menifield (13-3, fight in Dallas, Texas)
- from sydney Josh Culibao (10-1-1, fighting in Sydney, Australia) will face Melsik Baghdasarian (7-1, fight in Glendale, Calif.) in a three-round featherweight bout
- Also joining fellow Aussies and making his UFC debut, Gold Coast’s Shannon Ross (13-6, fighter from Gold Coast, Australia) will face Kleydson Rodrigues. (7-2, fight in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Ross battled a ruptured appendix to win a UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this year
- melbourne boy Jack Jenkins (10-2, fighter in Melbourne, Australia) will make his UFC debut after winning a contract on Dana White’s Contender Series earlier this year. Jenkins will face Don Shainis (12-4, fight in Stoughton, Mass.) at featherweight
The current performance schedule for Sunday, February 12 sees UFC 284 kicking off at 7:15 a.m. AWST with the UFC Fight Pass prelims. The action will continue with the preliminaries at 9:00 a.m. and the main card at 11:00 a.m. Please note that this is subject to change.
Fans logging in at home will be able to catch all the action live, from early prelims on UFC Fight Pass to prelims on UFC Fight Pass and ESPN. Starting at 11 a.m. AWST, UFC 284 will be available live on PPV through UFC Fight Pass, Main Event, Kayo and Fetch for Australian viewers and Sky Sport and Spark in New Zealand.
Additional fights UFC 284: MAKHACHEV vs. VOLKANOVSKY will be announced in the coming weeks.
While in Perth, UFC Featherweight Champion Alex Volkanovski and UFC No. 1 Middleweight Robert Whittaker will be at the Yagan Square Amphitheater from 5pm tonight, Wednesday November 16 , for a Q&A session with fans. This event is free and open to the public.
The last UFC show on Australian shores, UFC 243: Whittaker vs. Adesanya broke the world MMA attendance record with a packed stadium of 57,127 fans at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium in October 2019.
Since 2010, the UFC has presented 15 live events in Australia, including sold-out shows at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena, Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena, Perth Arena, Brisbane Entertainment Centre, ‘Adelaide Entertainment Center and the Gold Coast Convention Centre. Collectively, these events saw over 265,000 fans in attendance and millions of people around the world watching on PPV and streaming on TV. The six host cities to date – Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth – have produced a cumulative doorstep gross of over $45 million and hundreds of millions more in economic impact.
All fights are live and subject to change.
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