Louie Sutherland has been handed a short-notice shot at Tai Tuivasa after Sean Sharaf withdrew from UFC Perth because of injury, the UFC announced just over a week before the event in Perth, Australia. The heavyweight bout now gives Sutherland a chance to earn his first Octagon win at the RAC Arena.
The change keeps Tuivasa on the card, where he will try to stop a slide that has seen him lose six straight fights. Sutherland enters after being stopped in the first round in each of his previous two UFC bouts, while Sharaf was set to bring an 0-2 UFC record into the matchup before he bowed out.
UFC Perth is headlined by Carlos Prates against Jack Della Maddalena, but the Tuivasa switch has become one of the card’s more notable late changes. The lineup had already lost Jack Jenkins against Marwan Rahiki, leaving the promotion to reshuffle another matchup on a show that still has a local heavyweight in Tuivasa drawing attention in front of the Perth crowd.
Tuivasa’s recent run has been a sharp reversal from the start of his UFC career. He joined the promotion in 2018 with an undefeated record and later beat Andrei Arlovski by decision at UFC 225. He also delivered one of the more memorable fights of his run at UFC Paris, where Ciryl Gane stopped him with strikes in the third round and the bout earned Fight of the Night honors.
That early promise now sits far behind him. Tuivasa most recently dropped a unanimous decision to Tallison Teixeira on the main card for UFC 325, extending a losing streak that has left him searching for a way to turn the page. For Sutherland, the assignment is just as urgent: his first Octagon victory would come against an established name, but another stoppage loss would deepen the pressure around his own UFC future.
