Athletes
Brando Pericic Is A Man In A Hurry
Aussie Slugger Is Determined To Take The Fast Track To The Top Of The Heavyweight Division.
Every fighter who arrives in the UFC does so with dreams of becoming a champion, and Brando Pericic is no different. However, the Australian knockout artist has no interest in a gradual climb up the rankings. To paraphrase rock legends Queen, he wants it all, and he wants it now.
Pericic has certainly started as he means to continue. His two UFC appearances to date have both ended in first-round knockouts for a combined fight time of just three minutes, 43 seconds. He fights like a man with an early dinner reservation, and his fast-paced fighting style perfectly matches his career ambitions.
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Every word that comes out of Pericic’s mouth is delivered with an air of certainty. But despite his clear mindedness, his answers don’t come from a place of arrogance or cockiness. It’s simply a matter-of-fact approach. The shortest path to the destination is a straight line, and that’s the route he’s plotting as he looks to gatecrash the championship picture as quickly as possible.
“I’m meant to be here, and I'm gonna keep climbing these rankings,” he said. “I see myself in the top five by the end of this year, and if not, fighting for an interim belt or fighting for a belt.”
Brando Peričić Fight Week Interview | UFC Perth
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Brando Peričić Fight Week Interview | UFC Perth
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That clarity of purpose and approach has seen him make an immediate impact in the heavyweight division, and as soon as he knew the Octagon was heading Down Under, he was determined to punch his ticket to Perth with a big win. His first-round stoppage of Louie Sutherland in London in March did exactly that.
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He may have achieved the goal of getting onto this weekend’s card in Perth, but his sights have already moved on, and he’s planning to repeat the feat inside the Octagon with another big victory, so he can call for his next fight to be in Las Vegas later this year.
“I told my coach before my last fight, ‘I want to fight in Perth,’ so I knocked out this guy in the first round, and I got on the Perth (card),” he said. “Now we're here, and I'm gonna do the same, you know? I want to fight in Vegas, if I can. I'm pretty sure that's like, a couple of weeks away, or seven, eight weeks away. So yeah, I want to fight another three or four times this year.”
If it sounds like Pericic is a man in a hurry, that’s because he is. The 31-year-old has already had enough of having to wait for fights on the regional scene – where, in one remarkable run, five booked matchups fell through due to injury, opponent withdrawals, and the global pandemic. Now he just wants to fight, and fight, and fight.
Brando Pericic Gets The Ground And Pound Finish | UFC London
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Brando Pericic Gets The Ground And Pound Finish | UFC London
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“Mate, I'm a fighter. I want to fight,” he said. “I train hard. I want to fight often. And that was a bigger struggle for me coming up through the local scene – not getting fights. Now I'm in the UFC, just line them up.”
As well as his desire to reach the heavyweight summit as quickly as possible, there’s another reason why Pericic wants to fight as often as possible. He wants his improvement as a fighter to be as rapid as his ascent, and that means regular fights.
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“Look, I'm learning on the job, so I want to be active and keep learning, keep improving from my last fight, from the fight before that,” he explained. “I want to put on my best performance for this fight. We get the win, get the knockout, get the bonus, and just move on to the next one, just keep tweaking things and getting better.”
The improvement is already apparent from his first fight to the second, and as he prepares to return to the scene of his UFC debut at the RAC Arena this weekend, Pericic insists he’ll be an even more different fighter when he sets foot in the Octagon this time around.
“Every day I'm getting better,” Pericic said. Every day I'm growing. And that's the biggest thing. The fight was to get here, and now I'm here in the UFC now, all these doors are opening up for me.”
This weekend represents the latest chapter in a career that really ignited when he got the call to join Israel Adesanya’s training camp for his middleweight title rematch with Alex Pereira at UFC 287 in 2023.
“Bro, if it wasn't for Israel, I wouldn't be here,” he explained. “He brought me over as a sparring partner for Pereira, for the rematch. And that just opened up the doors for me, and I see myself fighting Pereira in the future – that's what I want. That will be a full-circle moment, you know? Getting flown over to be an imitation for Pereira, then actually fighting him now he's a heavyweight, that's a dream come true. That's my dream fight.”
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To get to that stage, Pericic knows he’ll have to continue to rack up the victories, and he plans on adding another W to his record when he returns to action against Bahrain’s Shamil Gaziev in Perth. It’s the sternest test of his career to date as he takes on a former IMMAF amateur world champion, who has transitioned to the pros and built an impressive 14-2 resumé to earn himself a spot in the heavyweight top 15.
Pericic isn’t too concerned about his ranked opponent’s qualities, however. Instead, he’s focusing on his own performance.
“I don't think about him. I think about myself, brother,” he stated. “I'm willing to fight the champion tomorrow. So, all these guys that come before, I don't care. We'll see what happens, we'll see what he does, but I'm ready for everything.
“I mean, the numbers don't mean nothing. I didn't come here to be number 13 in the world. I came here to be a champion. So, when I get that belt, even then, the work just begins. You gotta keep that belt. So that's the mindset that we have.”
If Pericic can replicate the sort of emphatic finish from his first two fights in this weekend’s bout with Gaziev, people will really start to sit up and take notice of the big Aussie. Not that it’s of any concern to him, mind you. He’s just staying laser-focused on the goal, regardless of the external noise.
“I think I was born with it,” he said of his inner drive and confidence. “I think God put that in my heart, and even though I lost my path a few times in life, it always brought me back to fighting, and it brought me to the UFC. And I always had that instinct and that voice in my head saying, ‘I can be a champion.’”
And when it comes to attracting attention with his performances, “The Balkan Bear” said he can take it or leave it… as long as he leaves with the win.
“I don't care what people say. I know who I am. I know what I'm going to do in this company.”
UFC Fight Night: Della Maddalena vs Prates took place live from RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia on May 2, 2026. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC FIGHT PASS!
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