Carlos Ulberg made a massive statement in his first UFC main event spotlight.
The rising light-heavyweight contender knocked out Dominick Reyes in the first round at a UFC Fight Night event Sunday morning in Perth, Australia.
Ulberg extended his active winning streak to nine and potentially positioned himself as next in line for a title shot in the 205-pound division.
The UFC’s light-heavyweight championship is at stake next weekend at UFC 320 when current champ Magomed Ankalaev meets former champ Alex Pereira in an anticipated rematch in Las Vegas.
Ulberg announced after his win that he will be flying to Nevada to watch UFC 320 in person. His message to both Ankalaev and Pereira was, “I’m coming.”
The dangerous knockout artists came out in opposite stances, with Reyes southpaw and Ulberg orthodox. Ulberg was first to find his timing and began catching his opponent on the end of his jab whenever Reyes moved forward on the attack.
Eventually, Ulberg timed a perfect one-two combination and his right hand sent Reyes crashing to the canvas.
Reyes, a two-time title challenger, had rebounded from a notable four-fight losing streak with three consecutive knockout wins over the past 16 months.
This was the fourth main event of Reyes’s UFC career and the fifth time he had been scheduled for a five-round contest, but the 35-year-old from California will have to go back to the drawing board in order to get near title contention again.
Ulberg, 34, has not lost since dropping his UFC debut in 2021. The Auckland, New Zealand native is the No. 3-ranked contender in the division and was coming off back-to-back decision wins over one-time title challenger Volkan Oezdemir and former titleholder Jan Blachowicz.
The event took place at RAC Arena and marked the 20th UFC card held in Australia since the organization debuted there in 2010. UFC Perth was the organization’s third trip to the city in as many years. UFC 284 took place there in 2023 and UFC 305 last summer. This event began just after 7 a.m. local time.
The penultimate bout of the card also featured 205-pounders, with Australia’s Jimmy Crute getting the crowd to their feet with a first-round submission win over Ivan Erslan.
Crute, 29, is unbeaten in his three 2025 outings, with his past two ending in a first-round submission win.
Also on the main card, Neil Magny added to his UFC welterweight record win total with a third-round submission of Jake Matthews. Magny was saved by the bell in the opening round after Matthews locked in a tight guillotine choke and thought he might’ve been the end of the fight.
The veteran American, 38, is 2-0 in 2025 with a pair of stoppage wins. He snapped the 31-year-old Australian’s three-fight winning streak to pick up the 24th win in his UFC career, which ranks first among all welterweights and second all-time regardless of weight class. Jim Miller currently holds the record with 27 total wins.
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Australia’s Tom Nolan kicked off the main card with a submission win over Charlie Campbell to extend his win streak to four in a row over the past 16 months. It was the first submission win of Nolan’s career and the first submission loss of Campbell’s.
Jack Jenkins got back in the win column by outduelling Ramon Taveras over three rounds in a catchweight matchup. It was originally scheduled as a featherweight bout, but Taveras was the lone fighter to miss weight Friday.
The preliminary card was highlighted by Ulberg’s City Kickboxing teammate Navajo Stirling maintaining his perfect professional record with a unanimous decision win over Rodolfo Bellato in another featured light-heavyweight scrap.
There were initially 15 total fights scheduled for this card, but a trio of matchups ended up getting cancelled in the days leading up to the event.
Justin Tafa dropped out of his heavyweight matchup with Louie Sutherland due to illness. Tafa’s younger brother, Junior Tafa, sustained an injury, preventing him from fighting Ibo Aslan, and welterweight Oban Elliott withdrew from his matchup with Jonathan Micallef.
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