Rod Costa defeated Michael Mannu in the main event of Eternal 68 on the weekend, in a bout contested at a catchweight of 62kg.
Fighting in front of his home crowd, Costa submitted Melbourne-based Mannu with a mounted guillotine choke, 4:04 into round two.
Costa had previously unsuccessfully challenged for the featherweight title against Jack Jenkins and was looking to start campaigning in the bantamweight division.
However, with the title holder Jenkins vacating the belt to fight on Dana White’s Contender Series, Costa is eyeing a move back to featherweight.
Asked for his thoughts on it post-fight, Costa said “I have two things to say.”
“One, it should be illegal for me to fight at bantamweight because I am too strong at this weight and second of all, I already beat Kaan [Ofli], I already beat [Justin] Van Heerden.”
“I like that match-up. I think Kaan is a coward, so he is going to lose so the match-up between me and Van Heerden is a good option – or the bantamweight title.”
“Whatever the boss wants, we go.”
Van Heerden and Ofli will face off at Eternal MMA 70 for the now vacant Eternal featherweight title.
The semi-main event of the card had a lightweight clash between two local prospects and in a highly entertaining scrap, Quillan Salkilld got the third-round submission against Dom Mar Fan.
Earlier, John Vake returned back to action after a long lay-off where he defeated Andrew Mills by decision while Jacinta Austin moved her record to an unblemished 4-0, with a second-round rear-naked choke submission against New Zealand’s Nyrene Crowley.
The card took place at the HBF Stadium in Perth and with the main card broadcast live on UFC Fight Pass.
Results (Pro):
- Rod Costa def. Michael Mannu via Submission (Guillotine Choke), Rd 2, 4:04
- Quillan Salkilld def. Dom Mar Fan via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 3, 2:23
- John Vake def. Andrew Mills via Decision (Unanimous)
- Jacinta Austin def. Nyrene Crowley via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 2, 3:48
- Khan Deatta def. Antony Bynoe via TKO, Rd 1, 1:38
- Anthony Drilich def. Michael Barber via KO, Rd 1, 1:35
- James Vake def. Jesse Armstrong via Decision (Unanimous)
- Sebastian Szalay def. Mizuho Matsuyama via Decision (Unanimous)
Results(Amateur):
- Julian Giustiniano def. Kane Rickus via Submission, Rd 2
- Dane Cross def. Mason Baines via Decision
- Jordan Zyla def. Daniel Hussein via Submission
- Jett Waller def. Mark Blackburn
- Liam Hoskin def. Antonio Cesaro via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1
