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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Getting out of range of a Sutherland flurry, Pericic was able to grab the Brit\u2019s head and land a couple of solid knees up the middle to send Sutherland on the retreat. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
Referee Marc Goddard gave Sutherland every opportunity to fight back, but ultimately Pericic\u2019s barrage was too much and forced Goddard to step in. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a tough fella, a big fella. I knew he was going to come out fast,\u201d Pericic said in his post-fight interview, before calling for a match-up on the Perth card scheduled for May. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe bigger, the badder, the better. I\u2019m going to knock out every c*** in this division. UFC Perth, Western Australia, I\u2019m coming.\u201d <\/p>\n
Pericic\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n