Brando Peričić

Brando Peričić, known to fans as “The Balkan Bear,” is a Croatian-Australian heavyweight who competes in the UFC, mixed martial arts' premier organization.

Born and raised in South Australia to a family with roots in Split and Dugi Otok, Peričić built his fighting career the hard way, training largely on his own and working jobs in construction, security, and debt collection while he chased a professional career in combat sports. His fortunes changed when former UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya invited him to train at City Kickboxing in Auckland, New Zealand, giving him a stable camp, structured coaching, and daily work alongside some of the sport's sharpest strikers.

Before shifting his focus fully to MMA, Peričić built a credentialed kickboxing background, capturing ISKA and IKBF Commonwealth titles, and he holds a blue belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Inside the cage, Peričić fights as a heavyweight wrecking ball, pairing the polish of his City Kickboxing striking pedigree with heavy hands and a wrestling-based approach that lets him dictate where a fight takes place. He presses forward relentlessly, hunts for the finish the moment he hurts an opponent, and has shown he can end a fight from either range once the opening appears.

Peričić made an immediate impression upon arriving in the UFC, opening his run with a first-round knockout of Elisha Ellison in Perth, following it with a punishing stoppage of Louie Sutherland in London, and adding another knockout win over Shamil Gaziev back in Perth — a string of finishes that quickly made him one of the promotion's most talked-about heavyweight newcomers.

For a fighter who nearly walked away from the sport before a chance connection with Adesanya's camp gave him a foothold, Peričić has become a symbol of persistence — a hard-nosed heavyweight who wears his Croatian heritage proudly and has established himself as a finisher to watch in one of MMA's most unpredictable divisions.