Tavares vs. Whittaker Co-Main Event, 6 More Bouts Added to UFC Fight Night Adelaide

Tavares vs. Whittaker Co-Main Event, 6 More Bouts Added to UFC Fight Night Adelaide

Ultimate Fighting Championship has rounded out its UFC Fight Night “Hunt vs. Miocic” card on May 16 with the addition of seven new fights.

A middleweight bout pitting Brad Tavares against Robert Whittaker will serve as the show’s co-main event.

In addition, Anthony Perosh will meet Sean O’Connell, Jake Matthews will face James Vick, Bec Rawlings will take on Seo Hee Ham, Dylan Andrews will look to bounce back from defeat against Bradley Scott, Alex Chambers will fight Kailin Curran and, finally, Brendan O’Reilly will battle Vik Grujic.

Promotional officials announced the bouts on Tuesday. The event is headlined by Mark Hunt versus Stipe Miocic and will take place at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia.

After dropping consecutive bouts against Yoel Romero and Tim Boetsch, 27-year-old Tavares bounced back with a unanimous decision win against Nate Marquardt at UFC 182. Meanwhile, Whittaker successfully made the jump up to middleweight when he finished Clint Hester at UFC Fight Night “Rockhold vs. Bisping.”

In light heavyweight action, Perosh and O’Connell will attempt to continue their winning ways when they square off inside the Octagon. Most recently, “The Hippo” submitted Carlos Augusto Inocente Filho and “The Real Deal” stopped Matt Van Buren.

Both Matthews and Vick are undefeated heading into their lightweight encounter. “The Celtic Kid” has ended his last two UFC tilts via submission. Vick was involved in two-straight unanimous decision wins since a year away from mixed martial arts.

After losses in their promotional debuts, Ham and Rawlings will attempt to earn a victory at the other’s expense. Following a stint on “The Ultimate Fighter 20,” Rawlings dropped a decision to Heather Clark at the show’s finale. Her South Korean counterpart also lost on the same card, dropping a judging decision to Joanne Calderwood.

Andrews was knocked out by Sam Alvey in his last appearance, extending his current losing streak to two fights. Scott is 1-2 in his three UFC fights.

Chambers, 36, was forced to tap out after Aisling Daly slapped on an armbar during their strawweight scrap in December. On the opposite end, Curran was involved in a three-round war with Paige VanZant at UFC Fight Night “Edgar vs. Swanson,” where she was ultimately finished before the fight could reach the judges’ scorecards.

Grujik was stopped after eating a knee from Chris Clements in November, it was the first fight he has lost in his career via TKO. O’Reilly was on the losing end of unanimous nod against Lipeng Zhang at UFC Fight Night “Bisping vs. Le,” it was his promotional debut for the Las Vegas-based promotion.