UFC 221 Preview

The Ultimate Fighting Championship comes back to Australia on Sunday, February 11 at the Perth Arena, WA.

It will be the UFC's first ever visit to Perth.

The main card will start at 11am local time (1pm in Queensland, 2pm in ACT, NSW, Victoria & Tasmania) and the preliminary card will begin at 7am local time.

UFC 221 Main Card - Yoel Romero vs. Luke Rockhold (Middleweight)

The main evemt is at UFC 221 is Yoel "Soldier of God" Romero versus American Luke Rockhold for the interim Middleweight Title.

The former Middleweight champ Rockhold is apart of the American Kickboxing Academy and Hard Knocks 365.

He has a 16-3 overall record in his MMA career with huge wins over Chris Weidman, Micheal Bisping and Lyoto Machida.

Below is a quick vid of Rockhold training at the world renowned Boonchu Gym on the Gold Coast with Muay Thai Legend John Wayne Parr.

Yoel Romero is a Cuban MMA fighter and fights out of Coconut Creek in Florida, USA.

Yoel has come in at late notice to fight the American as Middleweight Champ Robert Whitaker was pulled out of the title fight due to Illness/Injury.

Yoel's last fight was a decisive decision loss to the current champ.

His MMA record is impressive with 12 wins from 14 fights. He also has incredible wins over He's won via a knockout in 10 of 12 victories as well.

It’s about time the Cuban and i handle our business. #ufc221 pic.twitter.com/dnWmJvW5Ai

— Luke Rockhold (@LukeRockhold) January 18, 2018

Mark Hunt vs. Curtis Blaydes (Heavyweight)

Mark "Super Samoan" Hunt will take on Curtis "Razor" Blaydes in the co-main event.
Mark is a huge supporter of Punch Equipment and we'll be looking forward to this huge fight.

Blaydes will be a tough opponent as He's 8-1 in his MMA career with his only loss being from Heavyweight contender Francis Ngannou.
Blaydes has also won 7 of his 8 bouts via KO.

(Mark Hunt & Tai Tuivasa wearing Punch Equipment Black/White Trophy Getters)

Tai Tuivasa vs. Cyril Asker (Heavyweight)

Aussie Tai "Bam Bam" Tuivasa is looking to keep his undefeated MMA record (6-0) going against Cyril "Silverback" Asker from France.
After a HUGE knockout from Tai in his first outing, this is gonna be aweseme!

Jake Matthews vs. Li Jingliang (Welterweight)

This fight should be an interesting one. Australian Jake "The Celtic Kid" Matthews is 11-3 in his MMA career and takes on Li "The Leech" Jingliang from China.

Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov (Light Heavyweight)

Pedro is 6-1 in his MMA career. His first loss came in his last fight, so he'll be looking to rebound here. Russian Safarov is a former Wrestler and is 8-1 in his career. So this fight will be one of the closest at UFC 221.

Damien Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim (Lightweight)

Brown has lost his last two fights and will be looking for an improved performance against Hyun Kim.
The South Korean has a great record in MMA with 22 wins from 28 fights. He also lost in his last fight.
This fight proves to go the distance as both fights have a good record over 3 rounds.

Rob Wilkinson vs. Israel Adesanya (Middleweight)

Wilkinson's undefeated record was snapped in his last fight. After winning his first 11 fights, Siyar Bahadurzada took him down via TKO (punches). Meanwhile, Israel Adesanya is 11-0 in his career and will look to go one better than his opponent. He fights out of Auckland and has won his last two fights in Melbourne.

Jeremy Kennedy vs. Alexander Volkanovski (Lightweight)

Jeremy Kennedy puts his 11-0 record on the line against Alexander Volkanovski. Volkanovski is also in great form with 13 straight wins. He's won his last two fights by decision. So this should be another close fight.

Other UFC 221 Fights:

Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen (Flyweight)
Ross Pearson vs. Mizuto Hirota (Lightweight)
Teruto Ishihara vs. José Alberto Quiñónez (Bantamweight)
Luke Jumeau vs. Daichi Abe (Welterweight)

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFC_221
http://www.ufc.com/fighter