West Australian Quillan Salkilld beats Gauge Young in Dana White Contender Series to earn UFC contract

Quillan Salkilld has become the fourth Western Australian to sign with the UFC after earning a contract through the Dana White Contender Series. Lightweight Salkilld (7-1) scored an impressive unanimous decision victory over American Gauge Young (8-2) to earn the attention of UFC president Dana White and ultimately a contract in the biggest MMA promotion in the world. It was a three-round war between Salkilld and Young, but the West Aussie won the fight in the eyes of all three judges to score the important victory. The performance earned the praise of White, who stepped into the octagon straight after the fight to praise Salkilld. Salkilld joins Cody Haddon as Western Australians to earn contracts this year through the Dana White Contender Series, where welterweight star Jack Della Maddalena first earned a shot in the promotion. It means Salkilld will sit alongside Haddon, Della Maddalena and former flyweight title contender Steve Erceg as Western Australians in the UFC. White said was full of praise for both Salkilld and Young for their performance. “My thing was however the judges score this fight, however this plays out both of you have a bright future in this sport,” White said. “Both are durable, tough guys. Well-rounded, no matter where the fight went. Head kicks, eating nasty head kicks, the body shots that both of those two took. “The punches, when they hit each other with some of those right hands it sounded like heavyweights ... it was a great fight.” It was only the second decision victory of Salkilld’s career and the West Aussie acknowledged it was a great test for him. “I actually quite enjoyed getting into a slugfest, a bit of back and forth action. It was actually quite fun,” he said. “When I’m in there I try to look for certain things and certain openings. In there I felt a bit too tense, I didn’t feel quite myself in there. I had to rely on a bit of grit and tenacity to get through and get my hand raised. “I definitely see myself making a title run in the near future. I just need a few warm-up fights to get things going. I know I’m right up there with the best of them in terms of skill, just getting comfortable in the UFC octagon is the main thing at the moment.” Flyweight Anthony Drilich (8-1) will look to join the list of WA fighters in the UFC when he fights Sean Gauci (9-1) on October 9.