UFC 221 lineup is finalized; how do you rate Western Australia's PPV debut?

The lineup is set for “UFC 221: Whittaker vs. Rockhold,” which marks the organization’s debut pay-per-view event in Western Australia.

Although the country has hosted previous UFC shows – 11 to be exact – the organization has banked its lucrative PPV business on just one event: “UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm,” which took place in Melbourne in 2015.

Its first such event in Western Australia takes place Feb. 11 (but airs live in North America on Feb. 10 due to the time difference) at Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia, Australia. The main card airs on PPV following prelims on FS1 and UFC Fight Pass.

It’s not exactly the deepest PPV offering in UFC history, but the card does feature a title fight. In the headliner, champion Robert Whittaker (19-4 MMA, 10-2 UFC), who’s No. 2 in the TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings, meets former titleholder Luke Rockhold (16-3 MMA, 6-2 UFC). Whittaker, a former interim champ, was promoted to undisputed titleholder after Georges St-Pierre recently vacated the belt shortly after winning it from Michael Bisping.

Whittaker, a 27-year-old New Zealander who’s the centerpiece of the fight card, is on an eight-fight winning streak (with four knockouts) since a 2014 loss to Stephen Thompson. Meanwhile, No. 3-ranked Rockhold, 33, rebounded from his title loss to Bisping with a submission victory over former WSOF champ David Branch in September.

In the co-main event, veteran slugger Mark Hunt (13-11-1 MMA, 8-5-1 UFC), who’s No. 10 at heavyweight, meets No. 14-ranked Curtis Blaydes (9-1 MMA, 4-1 UFC) at UFC 221.

Hunt, a 43-year-old native New Zealand and crowd favorite, is coming off a “Fight of the Night” win over Derrick Lewis, but his future was in jeopardy following a controversial first-person column that discussed the health effects of a career in combat sports. He was recently cleared to return to competition and now fights 26-year-old Blaydes, who’s 3-0 (with one no-contest) since a 2016 loss to top contender Francis Ngannou.

Rounding out the main card are heavyweights Cyril Asker (9-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) vs. Tai Tuivasa (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), welterweights Jake Matthews (11-3 MMA, 5-3 UFC) vs. Li Jingliang (14-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC), and light heavyweights Tyson Pedro (6-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) vs. Saparbek Safarov (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC).

In the featured prelim, lightweights Damien Brown (17-11 MMA, 2-3 UFC) and ”Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim (15-8-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) clash.

The full UFC 221 lineup includes:

MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)

• Champ Robert Whittaker vs. Luke Rockhold – for middleweight title
• Curtis Blaydes vs. Mark Hunt
• Cyril Asker vs. Tai Tuivasa
• Li Jingliang vs. Jake Matthews
• Tyson Pedro vs. Saparbek Safarov

PRELIMINARY CARD (FS1, 8 p.m. ET)

• Damien Brown vs. “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim
• Israel Adesanya vs. Rob Wilkinson
• Jeremy Kennedy vs. Alex Volkanovski
• Jussier Formiga vs. Ben Nguyen

PRELIMINARY CARD (UFC Fight Pass, 6:45 p.m. ET)

• Mizuto Hirota vs. Ross Pearson
• Teruto Ishihara vs. Jose Quinonez
• Daichi Abe vs. Luke Jumeau

For more on UFC 221, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.