There was about a 10s feeling-out period, before Sutherland charged forward with a barrage of punches to back Australian Pericic up against the fence before changing levels for a takedown attempt.
The City Kickboxing product remained composed and defended the first attempt well, before getting up immediately when Sutherland was able to take him down with a second shot.
Pericic landed a couple of good punches when Sutherland looked to strike, but it was knees in the clinch that were the beginning of the end.
Getting out of range of a Sutherland flurry, Pericic was able to grab the Brit’s head and land a couple of solid knees up the middle to send Sutherland on the retreat.
The Brit tried to defend through offence and catch Pericic in a moment of complacency, but no such moment came as the Auckland-trained fighter began to land heavy punches.
Referee Marc Goddard gave Sutherland every opportunity to fight back, but ultimately Pericic’s barrage was too much and forced Goddard to step in.
“He’s a tough fella, a big fella. I knew he was going to come out fast,” Pericic said in his post-fight interview, before calling for a match-up on the Perth card scheduled for May.
“The bigger, the badder, the better. I’m going to knock out every c*** in this division. UFC Perth, Western Australia, I’m coming.”
Pericic’s win was the start of a big couple of weeks for the New Zealand contingent in the UFC, with City Kickboxing gym mates Israel Adesanya and Navajo Stirling fighting on the card in Seattle next week.
Adesanya will fight rising middleweight star Joe Pyfer in his 15th UFC main event as he looks to halt a three-fight skid, while Stirling will look to continue his unbeaten start in the UFC against Bruno Lopes.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.