Joseph Luciano is the #1 welterweight in Oceania as per tapology.com (removing American JJ Ambrose of course because, come on..) and after a horror situation back in September at Eternal MMA 78 in Sydney, which has been described as the single worst thing to happen to him in his professional career, the 8-1 Luciano had the chance to change his life and impress the decision makers from the UFC as they graced our shores.
Eternal MMA events have become the entree to the main that is the Eternal/UFC fight weekends. These often tailgated events have proven themselves as the train ticket to the promise land and ‘eternal’ prosperity.
You’ll often see when the UFC comes to town that an Eternal MMA event will take place the night before to help showcase the very best unsigned talent Australia has to offer in the hopes of helping them make the jump to the big show. Therefor highlighting that Eternal MMA holds the greatest acreage in grass roots Mixed Martial Arts.
UFC ranked flyweight and Perth native Steve ‘Astro Boy’ Erceg can attest to this. Most recently signed to the UFC when the likes of Hunter Campbell and other executives attended Eternal 73 in Perth, the night before UFC 284 back in February of 2023. Steve, long touted as the best flyweight in Australia, finished Soichiro Hirai via rear naked choke in 106 seconds, earning himself the all important UFC ink.
Joseph Luciano could see the path to glory. but he couldn’t see the pothole that await him. Due to circumstances that had more finger pointing than a 70’s disco the highly anticipated title bout between the consensus #1 fighters in both Australia’s Luciano and New Zealand’s Matt ‘The Viper’ Vaile was ceremoniously called off in what seemed like the 11th hour, shocking the countries and the sport. Contractual issues were reportedly ultimately to blame.
Vaile, the odd man out in that occasion, at 12-2, that had wins over UFC veteran Will Chope (42-20) and former Hex 170lb champion Kitt ‘The Killer’ Campbell (12-7) was and still is considered by many as the best welterweight fighter the land of the long white cloud has to offer. With only inactivity being his harshest foe.
Now Luciano has gone on to explain his side of the events with the others involved staying tight lipped. Be it fighter, promoter or management, regardless of the side you’re on, both men ultimately took a loss that far exceeded any stoppage they could have received inside the cage. They lost not just a fight, but a job interview. The most important job interview either men would have had thus far…
But as time passes and the game moves on, a new promotion emerged for Joseph. Hex Fight Series, a Melbourne based MMA promotion responsible for helping launch the careers of former 2x UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya, Josh Culibao, Recently signed regional double champ, Kevin Jousset and even Luciano’s very own teammate, Absolute MMA’s Jack Jenkins. among so many others.
Luciano will compete for the Hex Fight Series 170lb title against a very dangerous up and comer, fellow Melbournian, Jono Micallef (4-0). That title ironically, is the belt once held by his previously scheduled opponent Matt Vaile…
It’s an interesting matchup for Joseph as the 24 year old Jono is touted by many to be one of the future champions of the sport. Which Luciano agrees with, he just doesn’t intend to allow him to become a present one.
Micallef possesses an interesting matchup, with outstanding grappling, crisp striking and tremendous cardio. Under the tutelage of 7-3 pro Sammy ‘The Sharpshooter’ Haywood out of Combat 1 MMA, The man that looks to be as newly renovated as the kitchens he works with outside of the cage, he is a worrisome matchup for anyone. The question for Micallef tho, is he ready?
No one who knows anything about the sport doubts the 24 year olds future. But to judge his present is to study his past and his past is a little more cement than concrete.
Jono has fought 4 times in his near 15 month professional career with his total opponent’s records being just 9-10 while Luciano’s opponents over his 9 fight 4 year career are 47-35. Jono’s previous bout was #5 on the card, where as Luciano’s last opponent was an Eternal MMA main event on UFC fight pass against 7-3 former champion ‘Krazy Horse’ Kaleb Rideout.
This isn’t to discredit Jono Micallef before the bout begins, it is infact to highlight the size of mountain if he is indeed able to climb it.. Luciano is one of, if not, the best this country has to offer in regional combat sports. But he needs a dance partner if he wants to be invited to the big dance. And with the lifting of the Vaile postponed it is now Micallef that is faced with a key job interview.
People are often confused with the sentiment that pressure makes diamonds. But pressure does not actually make diamonds, it reveals them…
If Luciano wins, he was “supposed to”. If he loses, it’ll be perceived he was never that good. If Jono walks away in defeat, he walks away with valuable experience and lives to fight another day. If he wins however, he takes it all.. the title, the hype, the dream and in the words of the great Nate Diaz “Everything I worked for Mother F*cker”. We will then probably never get Vaile vs Luciano, Jono will be standing tall at 5-0, waiting for the call up while Luciano will ironically be the one forced to rebuild and renovate.
Regardless of who gets their hand raised on November 18th at Festival Hall in Melbourne, in front of 3500+ passionate fans. We can all be certain of this…
There’ll be a viper waiting.
- Mitchell Tinley (send your death threats here)
*Tickets & PPV
