Self-proclaimed “The King of Perth”, Josh Della showed himself as a force in the middleweight division, defeating Brandon Ropati in the main event of Eternal 28 on Saturday night.
The event took place at the WA Italian Club in Perth and was broadcast live via an online pay-per-view stream.
Ropati opened up strongly on his feet, getting the better of the early exchanges. Della decided to take the fight to the ground and it paid off as the local youngster pressed his opponent against the cage where he unloaded with punches and elbows that saw the referee halt the contest.
The stoppage came only 3:21 into the contest as Della secures fourth straight win and moves to 4-1 as a professional. His lone loss came in his debut at the hands of Priscus Fogagnolo.
In the co-main event, Anthony Drillich put on an imposing performance to defeat Mark Familari. The Next Generation Mandurah trained fighter secured an early takedown, unloaded with ground-and-pound before securing the rear-naked choke submission against Mark Familari.
The stoppage came only 31-seconds into the bout as he moved his professional record to 2-0.
Earlier Sefita Fuanki edged a split-points decision against Ricky Luzny and Josh Togo defeated Marcus McKeever via a unanimous decision.
Fight Card (Pro):
- Josh Della def. Brandon Ropati via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 3:21
- Anthony Drilich def. Mark Familari via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 0:31
- Sefita Funaki def. Ricky Luzny via Decision (Split)
- Josh Togo def. Marcus McKeever via Decision (Unanimous)
Fight Card (Amateur):
- Dishon Ravindran def. Steve Russell via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke), Rd 1, 2:22
- Daniel Fuller def. Axel Bonal via TKO (Strikes), Rd 1, 0:26
- Justin Hickey def. Ihsan Ahmedi via Decision (Unanimous)
- George Kanu def. Pablo Torrealba via KO (Punch), Rd 1, 1:00
- Kyle Wilkinson DRAW Jesse Sayas
- Junior Moe def. Adam Lawrence via Decision (Unanimous)
- Harvinder Mohar def. Jon Norton via Decision (Unanimous)
*Photo via Kim Johnson/Hitman Photography