Australian UFC welterweight Brendan O’Reilly ready for Melbourne card after Adelaide beatdown

BASKING in the glory of a cutthroat victory at UFC Fight Night Adelaide, Australian welterweight Brendan O’Reilly can finally think about Melbourne.

Sarah's pictures of the week - week 6 - UFC - Adelaide Entertainment Centre. Coaching from the sidelines in the Vik Grujic (dark hair) and Brendan O'Reilly (Reddish beard green shorts) Welterweight bout. Photo Sarah Reed.

BASKING in the glory of a cutthroat victory, Brendan O’Reilly could finally think about Melbourne.

In the back of his mind he had processed standing before his fans at a historic UFC 193 card in November.

And after a three-round slugfest against fellow Australian Vik Grujic at UFC Fight Night in Adelaide, Brisbane-based O’Reilly is daring to dream.

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“I hadn’t thought too much about it in detail,” O’Reilly said.

“My goal was to get through this fight, put on a good show and think about the next step and now I’m thinking about Melbourne ... absolutely.

“Fighting in front of Australian crowds is amazing and I’d love nothing more than to fight in Melbourne.

“It’s a huge event and that would make me so, so happy.”

Faced with what was hyped as a “loser leaves town” match-up, 27-year-old O’Reilly secured a unanimous 29-28 win.

“I saw it more as a chance to show my home crowd in Australia that I will stand and trade with anyone and put on a good fight,” O’Reilly said.

“I know that’s what Australian fans love and that’s what I wanted to do, so I wasn’t thinking about the specifics of who’s winning, who’s losing and what’s at stake, I just wanted to hear the crowd cheer and they did.”

As for his next opponent, O’Reilly will leave that in the hands of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.

Asked if he had anyone in mind, O’Reilly replied: “Not necessarily”.

“I just wanted to get a win on my move to welterweight and I’m going to keep working on my strength and conditioning to really solidify myself as a true welterweight.

“I’ll keep working with my coaches.”

Originally published as Australian UFC welterweight Brendan O’Reilly ready for Melbourne card after Adelaide beatdown