Quillan Salkilld was on the canvas early. He finished on top.
The Australian lightweight absorbed a knockdown against Beneil Dariush in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 275 co-main event at RAC Arena in Perth, Western Australia, then rallied to stop Dariush by TKO and improve his record to 21-1 in MMA and 5-0 inside the UFC octagon.
After the fight, Salkilld wasted no time identifying his next target. He called out Mateusz Gamrot, the Polish lightweight ranked seventh in the division, who returned to the win column last month by submitting Esteban Ribovics at UFC 327.
"I watched the Dariush vs. Gamrot fight many times leading into this fight," Salkilld told reporters at the post-fight news conference. "Gamrot just had a win recently, a good one, and he's ranked No. 7 so, I'm thinking that's a good next step before getting into the top five."
The callout was deliberate. Salkilld framed the Gamrot matchup specifically as a test of his grappling before he feels ready to challenge the upper tier of the division. Gamrot is known for his wrestling and submission game, and Salkilld said that dynamic was precisely the point.
Already having fought twice in 2026, Salkilld said he wants to stay active and believes the Gamrot fight could come together quickly. "I'm all right, so I think that's something that can be set up for the near future in a few months' time," he said, noting that Gamrot's recent workload would factor into any potential scheduling.
Dariush, a longtime top-15 fixture in the lightweight division, dropped to 23-8-1 with the loss.
