UFC 325 undercard overview: Hooker, Saint Denis primed for violent brawl

There are a lot of moving parts in the UFC’s lightweight division at the moment.

An interim title was awarded this past weekend at UFC 324 while the “BMF Title” will be on the line at UFC 326 in March, and at this weekend’s UFC 325 in Australia there are a handful of participants that’ll have their sights set on one or both of the above titles in the future.

The UFC's stacked 155-pound division and some of its most talented athletes are featured on Saturday’s pay-per-view card from Sydney. Before Alexander Volkanovski puts his featherweight title on the line against Diego Lopes in the main event, the UFC 325 main card will see three sets of lightweights go toe to toe.

The co-main event is the unofficial frontrunner to win the card’s Fight of the Night award when Dan Hooker and Benoit Saint Denis, two of the most violent fighters on the entire UFC roster, clash in the cage.

It’s the type of matchup that can be considered a de facto BMF Title eliminator considering Hooker and Saint Denis fit the mould of the type of lightweights who tend to participate in those BMF fights. All offence all the time, plus a willingness to sacrifice one’s own health to inflict damage on his opponent and get the victory while putting on a show for the fans is the preferred method of fighting for both men. 

The pair have shown a consistent willingness to go out on their respective shields – and both have on multiple occasions within the past few years – and that’s why the UFC 325 co-feature is expected to thrill fight fans who tune in for as long as it lasts.

“I’m excited for this one. This is a fight that gets me fired up,” Hooker told Sportsnet’s Aaron Bronsteter this week. “He’s a fighter that’s going to press forward and look for the finish. It’s two guys that just rely on grit and determination. The fans are in for a treat here, I believe.”

Hooker is making a quick turnaround following a November loss to current No. 1 contender Arman Tsarukyan. Hooker was returning from a 15-month layoff and had a three-fight winning streak snapped by Tsarukyan who landed a decent amount of damage on Hooker before locking up a second-round submission. 

The popular fighter from New Zealand, who turns 36 in two weeks, has been in the UFC since 2014. He has a 14-9 overall record, is 11-5 in lightweight bouts and is 4-1 when fighting in Australia under the UFC banner.

In the other corner, Saint Denis is looking to build off a successful 2025 campaign that saw him go 3-0 with second-round submissions over Kyle Prepolec and Mauricio Ruffy and he is coming off a 16-second knockout of Beneil Dariush in November.

The 30-year-old from France is 8-2 when he competes at the UFC’s lightweight limit and he has spoken in the past about his desire to challenge for both the lightweight title and the BMF belt. Extending his current streak with a win over Hooker gets him one step closer to both belts.

“I want to show that now is my time,” said Saint Denis, who was complimentary of Hooker’s well-rounded skill set and accomplishments in the division.

Fans need not look further than Saint Denis’ and Hooker’s respective scraps with Dustin Poirier to get a sense of the type of action that could be on deck. Hooker vs. Poirier was a 2020 Fight of the Year contender, as was Poirier vs. Saint Denis from UFC 299 in 2024.

Right before the co-main, Rafael Fiziev and Mauricio Ruffy will look for the knockout and likely trade some flashy techniques.

Fiziev snapped a three-fight skid with a decision win over the touted, ascending Ignacio Bahamondes last year to maintain his place in the top 10 at 155 pounds. Two of Fiziev’s losses on his recent streak were three-round round decisions to new interim champ Justin Gaethje that earned Fight of the Night and the other was due to injury.

Ruffy is looking to bounce back from his submission loss to Saint Denis almost five months ago. Prior to that setback, the 29-year-old from Brazil had developed a reputation as one of the most dangerous lightweight strikers.

Quillan Salkilld is among the most promising young talents on the UFC roster and the 26-year-old rising lightweight from Perth will open the main card against fellow Australian Jamie Mullarkey.

Mullarkey is stepping up on short notice looking to play spoiler as a massive underdog after Salkilld’s original opponent, Rongzhu, withdrew.

Salkilld is 10-1 as a pro with 10 consecutive victories and is coming off a brutal head kick knockout of Nasrat Haqparast at UFC 321 in October and is becoming must-watch.

Tuivasa on mission to end slump: Tai Tuivasa faces fellow heavyweight knockout artist Tallison Teixeira on the main card and both fighters are coming off losses. Specifically, Tuivasa has dropped five consecutive outings and hasn’t won in nearly four full years. The popular Sydney native was finished by perennial top-10 contenders Ciryl Gane, Sergei Pavlovich, Alexander Volkov and Marcin Tybura during his slump and is coming off a split decision defeat to Jairzinho Rozenstruik in his most recent appearance, which was in August of 2024. Prior to his winless drought, Tuivasa had knocked out five consecutive opponents

Teixeira is coming off his first loss when he was humbled by by Derrick Lewis in 35 seconds in a July Fight Night main event that was too much too soon for the 26-year-old Brazilian. Teixeira has never been out of the first round and Tuivasa has only required the scorecards three times in 22 pro bouts, so this one could come down to who is more durable.

Plenty of local talent: The UFC 325 lineup is chock full of fighters from the Oceania region with 12 fighters representing Australia and another three from New Zealand set to compete. There is only one matchup on the entire card that doesn’t have a local fighter and it’s the banger between Azerbaijan’s Fiziev and Brazil’s Ruffy.

Malkoun returns after almost two years: Middleweight Jacob Malkoun has been out since March 2024 but is back in action taking on unbeaten Torrez Finney. On paper, this isn’t the most exciting matchup. It undoubtedly has the potential to be a wrestling-dominant slog but it’s a fascinating style clash and Sydney’s own Malkoun will be competing in his home country for the first time since before he joined the UFC in 2020. 

Both men love pursuing the takedown with Malkoun averaging 6.62 takedowns per 15 minutes and possessing one of the best single-leg takedowns in the sport. Finney, meanwhile, gets a whopping 9.31 takedowns per 15 minutes yet only lands 1.77 significant strikes per minute but he has amassed an 11-0 pro record. Finney is the only fighter entering UFC 325 with an unblemished record.

Road to UFC bouts on prelims: The early portion of the preliminary card will feature four Road to UFC matchups, which are technically not UFC bouts despite the fact they’re taking place at a UFC event. Road to UFC is a tournament-style series featuring mostly top prospects out of Asia where fighters compete for a shot at winning an official UFC contract – somewhat like Dana White’s Contender Series. 

Four different tournament finals for Season 4 of Road to UFC will open UFC 325: Sangwook Kim vs. Dom Mar Fan (lightweight), Keiichiro Nakamura vs. Sebastian Szalay (featherweight), Sulangrangbo vs. Lawrence Lui (bantamweight), Aaron Tau vs. Namsrai Batbayar (flyweight).

Projected UFC 325 bout order (subject to change):

MAIN CARD
-- Alexander Volkanovski vs. Diego Lopes (five rounds for featherweight title)

-- Dan Hooker vs. Benoit Saint Denis

-- Rafael Fiziev vs. Mauricio Ruffy

-- Tai Tuivasa vs. Tallison Teixeira

-- Quillan Salkilld vs. Jamie Mullarkey

PRELIMINARY CARD

-- Junior Tafa vs. Billy Elekana

-- Cameron Rowston vs. Cody Brundage

-- Jacob Malkoun vs. Torrez Finney

-- Jonathan Micallef vs. Oban Elliott

-- Kaan Ofli vs. Yi Zha

-- Sangwook Kim vs. Dom Mar Fan

-- Keiichiro Nakamura vs. Sebastian Szalay

-- Sulangrangbo vs. Lawrence Lui

-- Aaron Tau vs. Namsrai Batbayar