UFC Fan Favorite on 6-Fight Skid Gets New UFC Perth Matchup on Just One Week's Notice

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Drew Beaupre | Last updated Apr 24, 2026 9:11 AM ET

Next weekend’s UFC Fight Night card has officially added a new matchup just over a week before the event takes place in Perth, Australia.

Scheduled to go down at the RAC Arena, UFC Perth is headlined by a huge welterweight clash between knockout artist Carlos Prates and the division’s former titleholder Jack Della Maddalena, who will compete for the first time since losing the welterweight belt via lopsided decision to
Islam Makhachev.

The card took some significant hits recently with the loss of Jack Jenkins vs. Marwan Rahiki and Tai Tuivasa vs. Sean Sharaf, but the UFC has announced that Tuivasa will still get to fight and has now been matched up with Louie Sutherland.

Tai Tuivasa Looks to End Losing Run at UFC Perth

A longtime fan favorite, Tuivasa joined the UFC with an undefeated record in 2018 and knocked out back-to-back opponents in the first round before taking a decision over Andrei Arlovski at UFC 225.

That initial winning run in the Octagon was followed by a three-fight skid, but Tuivasa rebounded with a five-fight streak of knockouts that stands as the best stretch of his UFC career thus far. That win streak set “Bam Bam” up for a main event opportunity opposite Ciryl Gane at UFC Paris, where he was stopped with strikes in the third round of a bout that took home “Fight of the Night” honors.

Jasmin Frank-Imagn Images

The Gane loss unfortunately kicked off a difficult stretch for Tuivasa, as he’s now lost six-straight fights and most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Tallison Teixeira on the main card for UFC 325.

Louie Sutherland Hunting for First UFC Victory

Sharaf was set to bring an 0-2 UFC record into the matchup with Tuivasa before withdrawing due to injury, and Sutherland will also be looking for his first Octagon win at UFC Perth after being stopped in the first round of his previous two UFC bouts.

“Vanilla Gorilla” has secured all but two of his 10 professional wins via knockout, and he claimed the Levels Fight League heavyweight belt in the summer of 2025 before joining the UFC later that year. The 32-year-old was the most recent victim of Valter Walker’s ongoing heel hook streak at UFC 321, and he was also stopped by fellow UFC Perth fighter Brando Peričić in his last bout in March.

Peter van den Berg-Imagn Images

UFC Perth was down to only 11 fights with the loss of Jenkins vs. Rahiki yesterday, but the addition of Tuivasa vs. Sutherland means there are now 12 scheduled bouts just over a week out from the event.