UFC Fight Night: Della Maddalena vs. Prates Live Winners and Losers, Results
Five months after a brief reign as king of the welterweights came to a one-sided end, Australian hero Jack Della Maddalena went back to work.
The 29-year-old won and lost the UFC's 170-pound crown in 2025, beating Belal Muhammad in May before dropping the strap to Islam Makhachev in November.
He was still ranked as Makhachev's No. 1 challenger, though, and risked that status when he faced No. 5 Carlos Prates in a scheduled five-rounder atop a 13-bout show on home turf at the RAC Arena in Perth.
Prates arrived Down Under on a pretty significant roll of his own, having won six of seven fights—all by finishes—since a successful Contender Series debut in 2023.
He'd handled another former champ, Leon Edwards, in his most recent appearance, stopping him in two rounds on the Della Maddalena-Makhachev undercard at Madison Square Garden.
B/R's combat team was in position to take in the event and compiled a real-time list of its definitive winners and losers. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought of your own in the app comments.
Winner: Command Performance
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Every now and then, a lower-ranked contender scores a win so impressive that it warrants him jumping the line straight into a championship opportunity.
Prates is that guy.
The Brazilian's dominance of a recently deposed titleholder in Della Maddalena was so comprehensive—treating a once-beaten UFC competitor like a first-fight newbie—that anything other than a direct line to a title match seems too faint a praise.
The fight ended via TKO at 3:17 of Round 3, but it could have been over much earlier had it not been for the toughness of the former champ, whose legs were strafed with kicks that limited his mobility and left him an easy target for punches, knees and elbows up top.
"Now I feel like I'm the No. 1 contender," Prates said. "Brazil has never had a champion in the welterweight division. I will be the first."
The winner landed 74 significant strikes in two-plus rounds, including 58 to his rival's head and another 16 to his body and legs. He eluded trouble from each of Della Maddalena's takedowns and ended the fight after dropping the Australian with a leg kick and pouncing with a series of ground strikes that forced the hand of referee Mike Beltran.
"This is the best we've see him look," analyst Paul Felder said. "It's great when you go out there and get a big KO, but he put it all together. He showed that he can systematically break you down and finish you."
Winner: All The Smoke
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Quillan Salkilld climbed to the top of the fence, put his fingers to his lips and took a celebratory puff on his signature imaginary cigarette.
It was a familiar celebration for the uber-confident Australian lightweight, but the significance of the moment made it more than your average smoke.
Because this time it came in the afterglow of a first-round KO of 12th-ranked contender Beneil Dariush, who'd entered with 17 UFC wins in a career that began when Salkilld was 9.
"He's no longer a prospect," blow-by-blow man Brendan Fitzgerald said. "He's a contender."
Salkilld was rattled early by a left kick to the head and some follow-up punches but withstood the onslaught and tagged Dariush as the men broke out of a cage-side tie-up.
"I knew he was gonna wrestle. I felt he was quite strong," Salkilld said. "Us Aussies are f--king tough, so it's gonna take more than that to put us away."
Winner: Class Over Craziness
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Tim Elliott craved chaos. Steve Erceg leaned toward technique.
Technique won.
In a battle of ex-title challengers looking to return to the top of the flyweight ranks, Erceg used patience and fundamental boxing to offset Elliott's frenetic approach and walk away with a tight but unanimous decision in an entertaining clash of styles.
Erceg was effective from distance with jabs and follow-up power shots, scoring with flashy impact while Elliott attempted, often unsuccessfully, to get in close and get it to the mat.
The 39-year-old succeeded toward the end of the opening session and perhaps leaned it in his direction, but he was less successful across the final 10 minutes and lost for the 12th time in 22 bouts across two UFC stints that began in 2012 and 2016.
"I knew he'd be weird. It was a clash of ugly versus pretty, textbook versus unorthodox," Erceg said. "After the first round, we neutralized him. He looked tired."
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Winner: Smooth Operator
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His nickname is "Freaky." But his approach screams "Smooth."
Unbeaten Moroccan featherweight Marwan Rahiki showed why he's considered one of the promotion's hot prospects, justifying his status as the main card's biggest betting favorite with a sudden first-round stoppage of UFC newbie Ollie Schmid.
The 23-year-old survived two minutes of tactical standup with Schmid before letting go with a one-two combination and following with a clean-up left hook that landed flush and sent the newcomer to his back.
From there, four ground strikes took care of things and forced Beltran's hand.
All nine of his pro wins have come by finish, now including eight KOs and one submission.
"Too good," Fitzgerald said. "A level above Ollie Schmid."
Winner: Balkan Battering
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Brando Peričić said coming in that no man should survive five minutes with him.
But it might be time to amend the marketing materials.
The menacing "Balkan Bear" went beyond a round to get a victory for the first time in his brief heavyweight career, walking through competitive fire early before finally getting to and finishing Shamil Gaziev at 3:44 of Round 2.
It was the first time past the opening session since a second-round loss to Randall Rayment, who submitted Peričić by rear-naked choke in 2024. His previous six wins had come in 3:26 or less, including five KOs and one rear-naked choke of his own.
The latest win probably ensures a spot in the rankings, given that Gaziev arrived at No. 14.
"I'm going to KO every c--t in this division," he said, "from No. 10 to No. 1."
Loser: Bye Bye "Bam Bam"?
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The Aussie fans still, and will likely always, love Tai Tuivasa.
But you've got to wonder how much UFC rope "Bam Bam" has remaining.
The master of the "shoey" celebration has now gone more than four years since his last post-fight sip, this time dropping a unanimous verdict to short-notice English import Louie Sutherland in a battle of big men to open the show's main card.
It was a seventh straight loss for the former ranked contender, whose last win came 51 months ago when he stopped former title challenger Derrick Lewis at UFC 271 in Houston, making it the second-longest skid in promotional history.
The level of competition had dropped significantly on the way to Sutherland, who was making his third octagonal appearance after first-round losses to Valter Walker (submission) and Peričić (KO) in October and March.
"I love fighting. I know I've got the skills to win in this organization," Sutherland said. "You can give me everybody. I'll fight them all."
Winner: Breaking Character
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Given an exceptionally lanky 6'3" frame at 185 pounds, you might think Cam Rowston would prefer a stand-up fight at long range.
But the Aussie middleweight craves a bit more contact.
Rowston ran his UFC record to 3-0 with a dominant performance in the prelim card feature, getting Polish import Robert Bryczek to the ground and battering him with punches and elbows on the way to a wide unanimous decision victory.
The 31-year-old pounded his way to TKO victories on the ground in his first two octagonal tries and only Bryczek's durability kept it from getting to three in a row.
And afterward, the winner had a callout for an ex-title challenger locked and loaded.
"Marvin Vettori, you call yourself the Italian Dream," Rowston said. "But everyone in this arena knows your career has been nothing but a nightmare. I'll help put you to sleep."
Winner: Enthusiastic Elbows
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It was the sort of violence that inspires metaphors.
Analyst Michael Bisping veered between labeling Junior Tafa a "man on a mission" and a "dog on a bone" while reacting to Tafa's sudden destruction of towering Brazilian light heavyweight Kevin Christian.
Either way, the enthusiasm was accurate.
Tafa shook off some hard leg kicks from Christian before driving his 6'7" foe to the floor with a left hand and rendering him semi-conscious with 11 straight elbows to the head before referee Matthew Wynne intervened at 2:42.
It was Tafa's third win in eight UFC fights and seventh in 12 pro bouts, with all the victories coming by KOs.
"I deserve that bonus. I'm trying to get married at the end of the year," Tafa said. "And the leg will be all right after a couple whiskeys."
Loser: A Week to Forget
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Only a mother could love Gerald Meerschaert these days.
And she's not even sure anymore.
The 38-year-old's week started with a four-pound weight miss that cost him 30 percent of his fight purse against Jacob Malkoun, then ended as he sleepwalked to a decision loss that had a fight-hungry crowd booing on the way to the snack stands.
It was a fifth straight UFC defeat for Meerschaert and eighth in 11 fights since the start of 2022, after a 2021 in which he went 3-0.
Overall, he fell to 12-14 in an octagonal stay that began on a Fight Night show in 2016.
For Malkoun, it was a third straight win and sixth in nine UFC appearances.
Winner: High-Level Friends
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Maybe Alex Volkanovski has a post-career future as a trainer.
The two-time featherweight king cornered gym pal Colby Thicknesse in the 26-year-old Aussie's prelim scrap with Vince Morales, and results indicate the partnership works.
Thicknesse won his second straight UFC outing, using a toolbox full of submission tries and standup prowess to earn a competitive but clear decision at bantamweight.
A winner in nine of 10 pro fights, Thicknesse went for a guillotine, a triangle and an armbar in the opening round, then held his own on the feet in the second and got through a difficult mid-round stretch in the third while earning 29-28 scores from all three judges.
Morales, now 0-4 in his second UFC stint, hasn't won an octagonal match since 2021.
"(Thicknesse) had to go deep and go the distance," Fitzgerald said.
Winner: Staying Stubborn
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If at first you don't succeed, try again.
Even if your corner team suggests otherwise.
Middleweight Wes Schultz was behind on the scorecards and facing a second straight UFC defeat after spending two rounds vainly chasing finishes against Ben Johnston.
But, even after his training team insisted he stay on the feet and go after a final-round KO, the American stayed stubborn, went to the ground and locked in the guillotine choke that ended matters at 1:50 of the third.
It was the sixth submission in nine career wins for Schultz.
"I'm not really good at listening. That's why I'm doing this and I'm not still in school," he said. "The neck didn't work the first few times but I'm a tough guy and I kept with it."
Loser: "Rock" Rolled
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"The Rock" will not be happy about this.
Zimbabwe-reared welterweight Themba Gorimbo reached the MMA radar thanks to a friendship with Dwayne Johnson via which the wrestler-turned-Hollywood star bought him a house.
But once "The Answer" became a household name, he lost the keys.
The 35-year-old dropped his third straight fight since a 4-1 octagonal start, ending on the wrong end of a split decision against Jonathan Micallef in which all three judges had it two rounds to one—but only one in his favor.
Now a winner of three straight after a Contender Series debut, Micallef struggled to find leverage on the mat in the first two rounds before dominating on the feet in Round 3 as Gorimbo's gas tank emptied.
Micallef had an 83-74 edge in overall strikes, a 55-39 gap in significant strikes and managed 3:25 of control time after converting one of four takedown tries.
Loser: Home Opener
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The Perth crowd was ready to welcome Dom Mar Fan.
And the Brisbane-based lightweight was happy to soak in their approval in search of a second straight UFC win in his 12th professional fight.
But Kody Steele wasn't having it.
Instead, the 31-year-old from Las Vegas had some objectives of his own and they were accomplished via first-round heel hook submission in the show opener.
Steele took his man down just 45 seconds in and worked his way through some mat scrambles before seizing Mar Fan's right leg and locking in the finishing maneuver than ended matters at 3:56.
"That's some high level sh-t right there," he said. "I can do that all day to anyone in this division."
Full Card Results
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Main Card
Carlos Prates def. Jack Della Maddalena by TKO (elbows), 3:17, Round 3
Quillan Salkilld def. Beneil Dariush by KO (punches), 3:29, Round 1
Steve Erceg def. Tim Elliott by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Marwan Rahiki def. Ollie Schmid by KO (punch), 2:47, Round 1
Brando Peričić def. Shamil Gaziev by KO (punch), 3:44, Round 2
Louie Sutherland def. Tai Tuivasa by unanimous decision (30-26, 30-26, 30-26)
Preliminary Card
Cam Rowston def. Robert Bryczek by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Junior Tafa def. Kevin Christian by KO (elbows), 2:42, Round 1
Jacob Malkoun def. Gerald Meerschaert by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Colby Thicknesse def. Vince Morales by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Wes Schultz def. Ben Johnston by submission (guillotine choke), 1:50, Round 3
Jonathan Micallef def. Themba Gorimbo by split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Kody Steele def. Dom Mar Fan by submission (heel hook), 3:56, Round 1
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