A highly anticipated matchup takes place in Perth in the early hours of Sunday morning as South African champion Dricus Du Plessis takes on former reigning champion Israel Adesanya in an all-African title bout. Du Plessis is unbeaten since debuting in the promotion, riding a seven-fight win streak. He picked up a controversial decision win against Sean Strickland to claim the belt. However, the odds of Adesanya winning on the nose at 1.80 seem to good to pass up. The Last Stylebender is entering his 12th consecutive UFC title fight, tying him with the likes of Georges St-Pierre and Amanda Nunes. Despite coming up short against Strickland, Adesnaya’s technical striking should come out on top against a fighter in Du Plessis who has had his chin checked on several occasions. Five of Adesnaya’s last seven have gone the distance, so backing him to win on the scorecards at 3.10 is decent value, but we’ll air on the side of caution and back Adesanya to win on the nose.

We’re taking the underdog in the co-main event, as Kai Kara-France takes on ‘Astro Boy’ Steve Erceg at 125 lbs. Bookmakers have priced Erceg as a favourite for this one, owing to his surprising performance in his even more surprising title fight opportunity against champion Alexandre Pantoja. This will only be Erceg’s fifth fight in the promotion, and despite riding a two-fight losing streak, the price of odds-against for Kara-France getting the nod seems too good to pass up. Erceg was propelled up the ranking due to his stunning KO of Matt Schnell, and owing to the fact flyweight is lacking serious contenders. Many thought Muhammed Mokaev was due that title fight, however, his recent antics and being cut by the UFC show perhaps that we are back to square one with regard to how the promotion views the division. Kara-France has had a year off following his decision loss to Amir Albazi, and it feels like the Kiwi could be next to get a crack at the title with a win here. While competitive in his title fight, Erceg is still considered a novice in the UFC given his lack of Octagon time, and bookies seem to be missing that in his pricing here.

A battle at 155 lbs, as elite Polish grappler Mateusz Gamrot takes on perennial fan favourite Dan Hooker. We’re taking Gamrot here on the judges' scorecards, given his price to win on the nose seems a tad short at 1.33. Three of Gamrot’s last four wins have been by decision, with the only exception being his win over Rafael Fiziev being stopped due to a knee injury to Fiziev. Everyone knows how tough Dan Hooker is, and riding a two-fight win streak you would think he is back to his best, but context is important. Wins over Claudio Puelles and Jailin Turner while impressive, are not a collection that you would expect would bag a fight against number five in the world. Before those wins, Hooker has gone 1-5, granted against some of the best in the world, but that is exactly what Gamrot is. Hooker still has time to have one last push at the belt, but this seems a bit too much to ask too soon, and Gamrot’s wrestling should pay dividends and result in a win on the scorecards.

Given recent results, this may be the swan song for fan favourite Tai Tuivasa as he takes to the Octagon to take on Surinamese battering ram Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Tuivasa is currently riding a four-fight losing streak, all by finish, and should he lose here it’s hard to envision where he goes in the promotion from here. We’ll take Jairzinho Rozenstruik on the nose here, and while he has traded wins and losses in recent years, his losses have come against the best in the heavyweight division (Ngannou, Gane, Blaydes, and Volkov just to name a few). Tuivasa looked utterly woeful in his last outing against heavyweight gatekeeper Marcin Tybura, as he fell to a first-round submission finish. Protracters will say that Jairzinho Rozenstruik’s fight style favours Tuivasa more than previous outings, and there is some truth to that, but ‘Bam-Bam’ has had his chin checked on countless occasions during his UFC run. Rozenstruik is off the back of a dominant corner stoppage win over Shamil Gaziev back in March, and even with the home crowd behind Tuivasa, it feels to me like this may be the last time we see him in the UFC if recent results are to go by.