UFC Fight Night 142 Preview
Australia has always been a hotbed of UFC talent as there have been a number of good fighters to come from the country.
It has been a popular place for the sport and for the UFC it is a regular stop throughout the year.
For all of the love of the sport in the country, they have never really had a major star come through and be considered one of the best ever.
Australian champions in the UFC have been hard to come by and despite a number of fighters getting their shot they have never gotten to that point.
Lately, though there has been a new wave of Australian talent that is beginning to threaten the best fighters in the world.
It is all led by the first ever Australian champion, Robert Whittaker who will defend his middleweight title in February against Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 234.
He is the best fighter to ever come out of Australia but he is leading a new group with most of them ready to be highlighted at UFC Fight Night 142.
It will be the latest card to take place in Australia and the entire card will be full of new talent from the country.
The card will also feature some of the old guard, specifically the man who was once the greatest Australian fighter ever.
Mark Hunt will fight his last UFC fight, at least the last on his contract, as the co-main event in front of his home crowd.
The 44-year-old is nearing the end of his career and is currently in a legal battle with the UFC overpay.
This is the last fight on his current contract and at 44 and with those legal battles it doesn’t seem very likely he will get another UFC contract any time soon.
This could be his goodbye fight as he takes on Justin Willis, a young heavyweight looking to add a name to his record.
Hunt represents those Australians who came before but two more fighters will take plenty of attention as the future of Australian MMA.
One will fight before Hunt as Tyson Pedro looks to make an impression in the light heavyweight division.
At 27-years-old there is a lot of potential in the young Aussie but getting started has been a challenge.
He entered the FUC with two straight wins but lost to Ilir Latifi before he could really find his footing in the division.
He looked to get it going against with a win over Saparberg Safarov but lost when he stepped up to take on Ovince St. Preux.
He clearly has the talent to be great but he needs to find that groove in order to make his way through the division.
The division itself is not necessarily as great as it once was but if Pedro wants to make that move towards the title he will need to start winning.
To do that he first needs to beat a legend in Mauricio Rua who made his return to the UFC after a year off in July when he lost to Anthony Smith.
Pedro is a part of the new wave and he is linked with a close friend in that new wave, Tai Tuivasa.
Tuivasa will headline his first event at UFC Fight Night 142 and like Pedro will take on a legend looking to get some attention.
So far things have worked out for Tuivasa as he has yet to lose a fight in MMA, his only loss came in a kickboxing match in 2014.
He has worked his way through the heavyweight division and now has a former champion to contend with in order to show that he has what it takes to fight at the top.
Against Junior Dos Santos, Tuivasa has his biggest challenge to date but a chance to truly take over as a star in Australia.
Although this is a fight night card and not a major pay per view the fact is that this could turn out to be the announcement of a new age in Australian fighting.
If Pedro and Tuivasa can win they will announce their presence in two of the biggest divisions in the sport.
They will show that they are ready to lead alongside Whittaker as a new wave of Australian fighting could be coming.
The Sport Addiction 