Saddle up, local fight fans. Because not only have we received confirmation UFC 284 will be hosted at RAC Arena (Perth, Western Australia) next February, true to UFC President Dana White’s initial promise, it’s set to be a proper barnburner.
“Australia, we’re back,” said UFC President Dana White.
“I’m so pumped we are returning to Perth for UFC 284 – it was an amazing host city in 2018 [UFC 221: Yoel Romero vs Luke Rockhold] and this February, we’re bringing a stacked card headlined with a championship fight.”
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“Australian fans are some of the best in the world and they’ve had to wait a long time for this. I can’t wait to put on another massive show for them. I will see you there.”
For context, back in 2020, UFC 251: Karamu Usman vs Jorge Masvidal was slated to be held in Perth before COVID-19 spoiled the fun for everyone. Now, the City of Light has a chance to avenge the loss.
As many had suspected, homegrown featherweight champion and reigning pound-for-pound king – Alexander Volkanovski – is scheduled to headline UFC 284 in his ambitious (though not totally unexpected) bid to become a two-division champion.
Moving up from featherweight to lightweight for a fast-tracked title fight against Islam Makhachev, we can certainly expect fireworks. Especially given the fact Volk will be hyped to finally be scrapping for a strap on home soil.
“I’ve had five title fights. I think I deserve to defend my belt where I’m not getting booed,” Alexander Volkanovski recently told BH with a laugh.
When prompted about the possibility of something going down in his own hood Wollongong, here’s what The Great had to say:
“Pay-per-view event? I don’t know about pay-per-view. Obviously I could fight on a Fight Night (not yet). But I definitely think there’s something further down the track, right? I might have already had a little chat about it once or twice with the guys at the UFC.”
“We could definitely sell that out. The beauty of it is that we’ve got a lot of talent down our way. We’ve got guys at our gym [Freestyle MMA] who I know will be in the UFC. Colby Thicknesse, Justin Van Heerden. It’d be incredible.”
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But Volkanovski and Makhachev won’t be the sole title fight of UFC 284.
In an effort to prevent the featherweight division from being held up, the co-main event will entail an interim title fight between the wildly unorthodox Yair Rodriguez (#2) and Josh Emmett (#5). The winner, of course, will eventually face Volkanovski for the unified title.
UPDATE [20/12/2022]: The bout between Australia’s former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker (#2) and Paulo Costa (#6) has just been scrapped after weeks of the latter publicly labelling the initial fight announcement “fake news” over his ongoing pay/contract dispute.
“UFC tried everything in their power to get [Costa] to the fight … The Perth fight is not happening,” Robert Whittaker revealed in a video posted to his Instagram account.
“They’re looking to reschedule me [in] March, April. This is very upsetting. I’m sorry to all the friends, fans, and family heading over there to watch me work. It’s out of my hands.”
“I wasn’t bluffing. Great fights [sic.] is going down due to lack of negotiation skills, they should stop being petty,” said Paulo Costa, also via social media.
“I think they’re taking it the wrong way, making fighters unhappy with deals isn’t very smart. It’s not only me… [Francis Ngannou], [Sean O’Malley], Mark Hunt, etc.”
The UFC has yet to announce a substitute for Whittaker vs Costa; sources indicates it’ll likely be pushed to a later date.
The last time the UFC’s travelling circus landed in Australia was for UFC 243, wherein Israel Adesanya defeated Robert Whittaker via second-round knockout to claim the middleweight title at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium. A little before that, Adesanya faced off against the legendary Anderson Silva at UFC 234 on the hallowed grounds of Rod Laver Arena.
UFC 284 will mark the promotion’s first pay-per-view event to take place on our sunburnt shores since 2019 and its 16th trip Down Under overall.
Keep an eye out here for key updates.
UFC 284: Islam Makhachev vs Alexander Volkanovski [UPDATED]
Main Card
- Islam Makhachev [C] vs Alexander Volkanovski [C] (Lightweight Title Bout)
- Yair Rodriguez vs Josh Emmett (Interim Featherweight Title Bout)
- Kai Kara-France vs Alex Perez (Flyweight Bout)
- Justin Tafa vs Parker Porter (Heavyweight Bout)
- Tyson Pedro vs Zhang Mingyang (Light Heavyweight Bout)
- Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield (Light Heavyweight Bout)
- Josh Culibao vs Melsik Baghdasaryan (Featherweight Bout)
- Shannon Ross vs Kleydson Rodrigues (Flyweight Bout)
- Jack Jenkins vs Don Shainis (Featherweight Bout)
