UFC Perth loses another bout as Justin Tafa withdraws due to illness, fans react: "WTF is going on"

With only hours to go, UFC Perth is now down to 12 fights after Justin Tafa withdrew from his bout with Louie Sutherland due to illness. Sure enough, fans are fuming about the last-minute cancellation.

Earlier this week, the card had suffered another hiccup after welterweight prospect Oban Elliott was forced out of his scheduled bout against Jonathan Micallef due to health complications.

In 'Bad Man's' case, the cancellation came during the day of the weigh-ins as illness prevented him from making his way to the scales.

Interestingly, this marks the seventh time Tafa had to withdraw from a UFC fight. According to Tapology, he has pulled out of three out of his last five scheduled bouts, losing the ones that he ultimately stepped into. Meanwhile, Sutherland, a former PFL fighter, is currently on a four-fight win streak.

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Fight fans are not taking too kindly to the news of the cancellation, with many voicing their displeasure on social media.

@DjibMMA wrote:

"F**king cut them @danawhite. WTF is going on?"

@FredyCreates speculated:

"Arena isn’t all the way full yet? Oh, okay, let me just cut some of the budget for this card."

@ssj2___Gohan chimed in:

"They should make these Tafa brothers fight each other and cut them both after, but we all know they will fall ill if they tried."

@0jebf7ifbe349 asked:

"Why are the Tafa’s still on the roster? They’re both constantly pulling out, and when they do fight, they lose."

Check out a few more responses below:

UFC Perth is scheduled for Sept. 27 at the RAC Arena in Perth, Australia, with a light heavyweight match-up between Carlos Ulberg and Dominick Reyes headlining the card.

How has Justin Tafa fared in the UFC?

Justin Tafa's MMA career has been largely lackluster since getting into the big leagues. The Australian suffered a first-round KO loss to Yorgan De Castro in his promotional debut at UFC 243 in 2019.

Since then, the 31-year-old has gone 4-5-1NC in the world's premier MMA promotion. While he had a four-fight unbeaten run between December 2021 and September 2024, he is now on a two-fight skid, most recently suffering a 35-second TKO loss to Tallison Teixeira in February.

Furthermore, health issues, among other factors, have led to Tafa dropping out of UFC events a staggering seven times.

About the author

Ujwal Jain is a sports journalist who covers MMA at Sportskeeda and holds a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism. He has been practicing martial arts from an early age and won several accolades at national-level competitions in karate and Taekwondo. He also holds a back belt in karate. Ujwal loves fact-checking, helping out with related research, and being a fresh set of eyes for fellow writers’ articles.

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