UFC Fight Night 65 official with Hunt-Miocic, Tavares-Whittaker, six more

South Australia’s capital of Adelaide will play host to a UFC event for the first time.

The previously reported May 10 event, UFC Fight Night 65, officially was announced by the UFC today.

A heavyweight bout between Mark Hunt and Stipe Miocic will headline the event with a co-main event bout announced featuring middleweights Robert Whittaker and Brad Tavares

An additional six bouts were announced by the promotion, as well – all featuring fighters from Australia or nearby New Zealand. Sean O’Connell will meet Anthony Perosh at light heavyweight; Jake Matthews takes on James Vick in a lightweight bout; Seo Hee Ham MMA is set to square off with Bec Rawlings in a women’s strawweight contest; Dylan Andrews meets Brad Scott at middleweight; women’s strawweights Alex Chambers and Kailin Curran will collide; and Vik Grujic will meet Brendan O’Reilly at welterweight.

UFC Fight Night 65 takes place at Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Due to the time difference, the card will air in the U.S. on Saturday, May 9, and is expected to stream on UFC Fight Pass.

Whittaker, an “Ultimate Fighter: Smashes” winner, is riding a two-fight winning streak, most recently stopping Clint Hester at UFC Fight Night 55. The Hester fight was his first since moving up to middleweight. In Tavares, he faces another “TUF” alumnus and one of the most quietly successful fighters in the UFC. Tavares rebounded from a two-fight losing skid with a dominant decision victory over Nate Marquardt at UFC 182.

Perosh, one of Australia’s most popular fighters, will take on O’Connell in a bout between men who recently bounced back from losses. Perosh was on the receiving end of three rounds of punishment from Ryan Bader in December 2013, but bounced back in November with a first-round submission of Guto Inocente in his only fight of 2014. O’Connell broke a two-fight losing skid when he scored a dramatic come-from-behind TKO of Matt Van Buren at UFC Fight Night 59.

Matthews, from Australia, does battle with another unbeaten prospect in Vick. Matthews has picked up a pair of UFC wins, beating Dashon Johnson at UFC Fight Night 43 and Vagner Rocha at UFC Fight Night 55, both by submission. Vick has won all three of his trips to the octagon, including wins over Valmir Lazaro and Nick Hein in 2014.

Ham, naturally an atomweight fighter, dropped a decision to Heather Clark in her UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale, snapping a six-fight winning streak. Rawlings, a native Australian, also lost in her official UFC debut at the TUF 20 Finale, losing to Heather Jo Clark by unanimous decision. The loss was Rawlings’ third in her past four fights.

New Zealand’s Andrews is in need of a win after back-to-back knockout losses to Clint Hester in December 2013 and Sam Alvey this past November. Before that, he had a six-fight winning streak, including his first two UFC fights by knockout. England’s Scott will be looking to rebound as well after a decision loss to Claudio da Silva nearly a year ago. He dropped his UFC debut to Whittaker in a “TUF: Smashes” final, but bounced back with a submission win of Michael Kuiper in October 2013.

Chambers, from New South Wales, Australia, made her UFC debut in December after a run on “TUF 20.” But she was submitted in the first round by Aisling Daly. Curran, a Hawaiian product of Reign MMA in California, made her UFC debut in November, but was stopped by fellow strawweight prospect Paige VanZant with a third-round TKO for the first loss of her career.

O’Reilly, from Brisbane, Australia, made his UFC debut this past August, but came out on the short end of a decision loss to Lipeng Zhang at UFC Fight Night 48 in Macau – the first setback of his pro career. Grujic will be looking for a return to the win column after alternating wins and losses his first three UFC fights. The “TUF: Smashes” product opened with a decision loss to Nodine Taleb this past April, but rebounded with a TKO of Chris Indich in June in New Zealand. But in November, he was stopped by Chris Clements in the first round.

With the additions, the UFC Fight Night 65 card now includes:

Mark Hunt vs. Stipe Miocic
Brad Tavares vs. Robert Whittaker
Sean O’Connell vs. Anthony Perosh
Jake Matthews vs. James Vick
Seohee Ham vs. Bec Rawlings
Dylan Andrews vs. Brad Scott
Alex Chambers vs. Kailin Curran
Vik Grujic vs. Brendan O’Reilly

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