UFC Fight Night 43 gets Perosh-Villante, Whittaker-Rhodes, Delos Reyes-Vaculik
The UFC’s first trip to New Zealand got filled out a bit on Monday with the announcement of three new fights.
Anthony Perosh (14-8 MMA, 4-5 UFC), from nearby Australia, will meet Gian Villante (11-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) at light heavyweight; New Zealand-born Robert Whittaker (11-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) takes on Mike Rhodes (6-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) in a welterweight bout; Jon Delos Reyes (7-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) against Australia’s Richie Vaculik (9-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC); and Vik Grujic (6-3 MMA, 0-1 UFC) vs. Chris Indich (5-2 MMA, 0-1) at welterweight.
UFC officials announced the three fights at a Tuesday news conference in New Zealand (Monday in the U.S. with the time difference). A previously announced fight between Charles Oliveiria and Hatsu Hioki was confirmed as the co-main event for UFC Fight Night 43, which is headlined by a middleweight bout between James Te Huna and Nate Marquardt.
“UFC Fight Night: Te Huna vs. Marquardt†will take place June 28 at Vector Arena in Auckland and is expected to stream on UFC Fight Pass. The event happens the same day as a “Fight Night†event in San Antonio in the States.
Perosh will try to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Ryan Bader this past December in Australia and will be hoping to avoid his first losing skid since 2006, his first two UFC fights. Prior to the loss to Bader, “The Hippo†was coming off the highlight of his career, a 14-second knockout of Vinny Magalhaes in enemy territory in Brazil at UFC 163 that made up for a seven-second knockout loss to Ryan Jimmo at UFC 149 in July 2012.
Villante is coming off a decision loss, as well. In March, he went to Brazil and was outhustled in the second and third rounds by Fabio Maldonado. Prior to the that, the New Yorker had a TKO win over Cody Donovan at UFC 167 to get back on track after a decision loss to Ovince St. Preux at UFC 159 in his UFC debut.
Whittaker needs a win after back-to-back losses to Court McGee and Stephen Thompson. In August, McGee snapped his two-fight streak with a split-decision win. In February, he was stopped in the first round by Thompson at UFC 170 with a TKO. He had won his first two UFC fights, including a decision win over Brad Scott to win “TUF: Smashes†in December 2012. Rhodes started his career 6-1, but dropped his UFC debut in January to George Sullivan at UFC on FOX 10 in Chicago by unanimous decision.
Delos Reyes brought a four-fight winning streak into his UFC debut in January, but was submitted in the first round by Dustin Kimura at UFC Fight Night 34 in Singapore. Vaculik, also a “TUF: Smashes†contestant, had a five-fight winning streak snapped in his promotional debut in December when he was stopped in the first round by Justin Scoggins at UFC Fight Night 33 in Australia.
Indich and Grujic will meet in a battle of teammates on the recent Canada vs. Australia edition of “The Ultimate Fighter,†“TUF Nations.†Each made his official UFC debut at the TUF Nations Finale in April, each leaving with a loss. Indich dropped a unanimous decision to Richard Walsh to have a three-fight winning streak snapped, while Grujic dropped a decision to Nordine Taleb.
With the additions, the card now includes:
Nate Marquardt vs. James Te Huna
Hatsu Hioki vs. Charles Oliveira
Robert Whittaker vs. Mike Rhodes
Anthony Perosh vs. Gian Villante
Jon Delos Reyes vs. Richie Vaculik
Chris Indich vs. Vik Grujic
