Watch UFC Fight Night: Della Maddalena vs. Prates 5/2/26 - 2nd May 2026 Full Show Online HD:
Preview:
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Welterweight knockout artists Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates will collide this weekend (Sat., May 2, 2026) inside RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, for UFC Perth. Unlike previous trips to Australia, Saturday’s fight card is set to run in prime time in Perth, meaning the crowd that is usually raucous early on a Sunday morning will likely be even more fired up and ferocious in their support of the athletes from Australia and New Zealand making the walk this weekend. While that means it’s an early start time for those watching in North America — prelims at 4:00 am EST, main card at 7:00 am EST — brunch and brawls have never not hit, and it shouldn’t be any different this weekend.
This is Della’s first appearance since dropping the title to Islam Makhachev at Madison Square Garden last November in a lopsided contest. While the tendency is to fixate on the setback and losing the title, the reality is that Makhachev is an all-time talent who hasn’t lost in over a decade and can break the record for the most consecutive wins in UFC history next time out, and the 29-year-old Perth boy was a dominant force in his eight previous UFC fights, including his gutsy title win over Belal Muhammad at UFC 315. Fighting out of the Kingdom of Bahrain, Gaziev has had mixed results since landing in the UFC via a first-round stoppage win on Season 7 of Dana White’s Contender Series, posting three wins, two finishes, and two losses in his first five fights. Saturday night, he aims to bounce back after getting stopped by Dominican standout Waldo Cortes Acosta last time out in Qatar.
Prates touches down in Perth, having rebounded from his first UFC loss last April with consecutive highlight reel finishes. In August, he slept Geoff Neal with a spinning back elbow in Chicago, and then three months later, “The Nightmare” did the same to former champ Leon Edwards at MSG, earning Performance of the Night bonuses in each of those wins. This is about as perfect a matchup as you’re going to find in the UFC at the moment; the precise opportunity and stylistic pairing each man needs, given how they come into the weekend, while also carrying a great deal of significance within the division. Della Maddalena gets the opportunity to instantly bounce back and cement his standing as one of the best fighters in the division, while Prates has a chance to topple another former champion, this time in a high-profile main event.
Lightweights occupy the co-main event position in Perth on Saturday as veteran Beneil Dariush ventures abroad to face ascending hometown product Quillan Salkilld. Last year was a mixed bag for Dariush, who returned from a torn meniscus in 2024 with a sound win over Renato Moicano at UFC 317 that immediately affirmed that he remains a Top 10 talent in the lightweight division. But then in November, the Orange County staple suffered a 16-second knockout loss at the hands of Benoit Saint Denis, marking the third time in four fights that he’d been stopped in devastating fashion in the first round. Salkilld has been on an absolute tear since touching down in the UFC last February with a first-round knockout win over Anshul Jubli. Additional wins over Yaal Ashmouz and Nasrat Haqparast made him one of the top rookies of 2025 and put him on everyone’s radar as a 2026 breakout candidate, and after submitting veteran Jamie Mullarkey at UFC 325, he has a chance to break into the Top 15 with a win at home on Saturday. After turning in a bonus-winning effort to close 2023, Elliott missed all of 2024 after suffering an undisclosed injury midway through the year. He finally returned to action last August and once again flashed his dynamic abilities, submitting recent title challenger Kai Asakura in the second round at UFC 319, grabbing a second straight bonus in the process.
Erceg’s UFC tenure has been a mix of peaks and valleys thus far, as he won three straight to land in a championship fight against Alexandre Pantoja before celebrating the one-year anniversary of his debut, losing a competitive battle to the Brazilian before dropping additional contests to former title challenger Kai KaraFrance and ex-champ Brandon Moreno. The Perth resident got things moving in the right direction again in August with a win over Ode’ Osbourne at bantamweight and aims to keep the ball rolling. Flyweight is white hot right now, and while these two are currently outside of the title picture, they are staples in the rankings and the kind of skilled and proven veterans that are essential for every weight class. The winner of this one should find themselves in another significant pairing later in the year, while the vanquished competitor will remain a critical piece of the division’s ecosystem.
Match Card:
Prelims –4.00AM ET
- Middleweight Cameron Rowston vs. Robert Bryczek
- Light Heavyweight Junior Tafa vs. Kevin Christian
- Catchweight (190 lb) Jacob Malkoun vs. Gerald Meerschaert
- Bantamweight Colby Thicknesse vs. Vince Morales
- Middleweight Ben Johnston vs. Wesley Schultz
- Welterweight Jonathan Micallef vs. Themba Gorimbo
- Lightweight Dom Mar Fan vs. Kody Steele
Maincard – 7.00AM ET
- Welterweight Jack Della Maddalena vs. Carlos Prates
- Lightweight Beneil Dariush vs. Quillan Salkilld
- Flyweight Tim Elliott vs. Steve Erceg
- Featherweight Marwan Rahiki vs. Ollie Schmid
- Heavyweight Shamil Gaziev vs. Brando Peričić
- Heavyweight Tai Tuivasa vs. Louie Sutherland
EVENT INFO :
- Show
- Location: RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia.
