Quillan Salkilld faced the biggest test of his mixed martial arts career Saturday in Australia and passed with flying colours.
The rising lightweight talent picked up a first-round technical knockout victory over No. 12 contender Beneil Dariush in the co-main event of a UFC Fight Night event in his home city of Perth.
Salkilld capped off his 3-0 campaign in 2025 with a KO of the Year candidate over Nasrat Haqparast and began 2026 with a submission of Jamie Mularkey in January at UFC 325 in Sydney.
He is a name to watch at 155 pounds and will debut in the rankings next week after this win. The 26-year-old lost his professional debut five years ago when he was a teenager but has since won 12 consecutive bouts overall with four of his five UFC wins being first-round stoppages.
Dariush has been a perennial contender and has shared the cage with the division’s best ever since joining the UFC in 2014, but the soon-to-be 37-year-old has now been knocked out in the opening round in four of his past five fights and was coming off a 16-second KO loss to Benoit Saint Denis in November.
Get the skills to pay the bills
Skilled Trades College is where hands-on training meets real-world opportunity, helping students build in-demand skills and take the next step toward lasting careers in the trades.
Visit here to learn more
Saturday’s 13-bout event took place at RAC Arena and was headlined by former welterweight champion and Perth native Jack Della Maddalena, who was one of 13 Australian-based fighters featured.
Also on the card, past flyweight title challengers Tim Elliott and Steve Erceg went toe-to-toe for 15 minutes with Erceg getting his hand raised thanks to precision striking. Perth’s Erceg has now won two straight, while Elliott had his two-fight winning streak snapped.
Elliott pushed 125-pound great Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson for five rounds in their 2016 title fight but lost a five-round decision. Erceg was one round away from defeating then-champ Alexandre Pantoja at UFC 301 almost two years ago to the day but lost a close decision and has had to work his way back up the rankings.
Marwan Rahiki, who was born in Morocco but lives and fights out of Sydney, continued his perfect start to his pro career with a quick finish of newcomer Ollie Schmid. Rahiki, a promising featherweight, improved to 9-0 since turning pro in 2024 after catching Schmid with a short left hook midway through the opening round.
The 23-year-old was coming off a March TKO win over Harry Hardwick, which was one of the best fights of the year. Schmid replaced Rahiki’s original opponent Jack Jenkins on roughly one week’s notice after Jenkins withdrew due to injury.
Brando Pericic had the home crowd roaring during his heavyweight slugfest with Bahrain’s Shamil Gaziev. The two behemoths traded heavy strikes for a little over six minutes before Pericic managed to find a finishing combination on the ultra-durable Gaziev.
Pericic eventually earned a technical knockout win after chopping Gaziev down with accumulating blows like a mighty oak. Gaziev entered the event the No. 14 contender in the heavyweight division, meaning Pericic will take his spot in the rankings next week. Pericic, 31, only debuted in the UFC in September but is already 3-0 in the organization.
In less entertaining heavyweight action, Tai Tuivasa couldn’t snap his lengthy losing streak and dropped a slow-paced unanimous decision to Louie Sutherland in the opening bout of the main card.
The Scottish-born Sutherland smothered Tuivasa on his way to getting his first UFC victory. Tuivasa has now lost seven consecutive fights dating back to his interim title fight with Ciryl Gane in 2022.
Aussie-based fighters went 5-2 on the preliminary card with Junior Tafa returning to the win column with a dominant first-round stoppage of Kevin Christian. Tafa had been submitted in two straight and had been finished in four of five prior to this win.
American Kody Steele quieted the crowd in the opening bout when he tapped Dom Mar Fan with a nifty inverted heel hook in the opening round of their lightweight contest.
It took Wesley Schultz multiple choke attempts but he eventually found the right angle to submit the debuting Ben Johnston in another American over Australian result.
Sydney’s Cameron Rowston improved to 3-0 in the UFC with a unanimous decision win over Robert Bryczek. Rowston challenged one-time title challenger Marvin Vettori to a matchup following the win.
Australians Jacob Malkoun, Colby Thicknesse and Jonathan Micallef all escaped with tightly contested decision wins over Gerald Meerschaert, Vince Morales and Themba Gorimbo, respectively.
