The list of Australian and New Zealand fighters ready to fight for their countries continues to grow at UFC 221 in Perth.
Announced on Monday, Australian Jake Mathews (12-3) will take on China’s Li Jingliang (14-4) at welterweight, while New Zealand’s Luke Jumeau (12-4, 1 draw) looks to get back in the win column when he faces Daichi Abe (6-0) at the historic UFC event in Perth.
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Mathews, a former lightweight, will continue his campaign at welterweight, after finding success late last year returning to the division with a split decision victory over Bojan Velickovic (15-6), at UFC Fight Night Sydney, in November 2017.
Mathew’s opponent, Jingliang, is riding a four-fight win-streak stopping three of the four. The Chinese fighter has been gaining momentum in 2017, finishing the year with an impressive first round KO of Zak Ottow, at UFC Fight Night Shanghai in November 2017.
Jumeau suffered his first UFC loss at UFC Fight Night Saitama, in September 2017, to Japan’s Shinsho Anzai (10-1, 1 draw). As first reported by Newshub NZ, The New Zealander, will be attempting to make it 1-1 against Japan as he takes on another Japanese fighter in Abe at welterweight.
Abe is undefeated and 1-0 in the UFC and will be hoping to keep his perfect record.
UFC 221 will be the inaugural UFC event in Western Australia, taking place at the Perth Arena and headlined by UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker who defends against top contender Luke Rockhold.
Fight Card:
- Robert Whittaker (c) vs. Luke Rockhold – UFC middleweight title fight
- Curtis Blaydes vs. Mark Hunt
- Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov
- Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen
- Damian Brown vs. Dong Hyun Kim
- Cyril Asker vs. Tai Tuivasa
- Alex Volkanovski vs. Jeremy Kennedy
- Teruto Ishihara vs. Jose Quinonez
- Mizuto Hirota vs. Ross Pearson
- Israel Adesanya vs. Rob Wilkinson
- Jake Matthews vs. Li Jingliang
- Luke Jumeau vs. Daichi Abe
Israel Adesanya set to fight Rob Wilkinson at UFC 221 in Perth
