A heavyweight bout between Pat Barry and Soa Palelei has been added to the UFC fight Night 33 fight card in Australia on December 7th.
Barry is coming off a first round TKO loss to Shawn Jordan which saw him stopped in just 59 seconds. While he’s a popular, charismatic fighter outside of the Octagon he’s struggled to find consistency inside of it with a 5-6 record since joining the promotion so he could certainly use a win here.
Palelei picked up a third round TKO win in his promotional debut at the tail end of last month, but he didn’t impress Dana White who called the fight “sloppy” so the 36 year-old veteran still has a lot to do in order to solidify his place in the promotion.
This match-up continues the trend on this fight card so far of having talent from Australasia competing in high profile bouts, with Palelei being from Australia, as is James Te Huna who fights Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua in the co-main event, and Mark Hunt who hails from New Zealand and will take on Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in the show’s headliner.
This will be the UFC’s fourth visit to Australia in as many years highlighting the region’s significance as a major overseas market for the company.
