Australian Fighting Championship returns later this month, February 22nd, with its eighth installment set for the Melbourne Pavilion in Victoria, Australia.

In the headliner, one of the country’s best 155-lbs combatants, Nick Patterson (12-4), meets adopted Aussie fighter, Bernardo Magalhaes (12-3). In the co-main event, a riveting Featherweight contest takes place between Rodolfo Marques (15-3-1) and Alex Volkanovski (4-1).

AFC 8 line-up set with 7 contests, Patterson vs. Magalhaes serves as headliner

Officials confirmed the bouts with MMASucka.com this past week.

There’s no questioning the promotion’s intentions in starting the calendar year off with a bang, having scheduled arguably the best Bantamweights, Lightweights and Welterweights from Australia and abroad, all in one stacked line-up.

Patterson has been dubbed as an “energizer bunny” for his ability to finish fights quickly and in devastating fashion. The 30-year-old is known for his arsenal of flamboyant strikes, including flying knees, spinning back kicks and elbows. After a third round TKO setback against current champ Daniel Hooker AFC 6, Patterson rebounded with a first round submission triumph over Rod Stadder at AFC 7. He has tasted victory in four of his past five outings.

Magalhaes, meanwhile, holds an impressive resume that includes victories over a who’s who of MMA talent, most notably Rob Lisita, Gustavo Falciroli, Adrian Pang and Rob Hill. After an uneventful 0-2 stint with the UFC, the 32-year-old makes his promotional AFC debut on the heels of a 2-3 run. Although Magalhaes possesses a renowned Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Black Belt pedigree, his stand-up skills has been coming along too, making this classic striker vs. grappler bout all the more intriguing come fight night.

According to the AFC brass, the winner of this bout is expected to be crowned as the no. 1 contender for Daniel Hooker’s 155-lbs belt.

Alex Volkanovski is a heavily muscled fighter with legitimate knockout power and an ever-improving MMA game. It’s no secret that the Australian will be looking to put his opponent, Rodolfo Marques, on his back and try to finish the fight with ground-and-pound, a feat that has been evident in his previous bouts.

But that strategy could fall right into the hands of Marques, who’s an exceptional grappler with cardio that can go on for days. The Brazilian has been through a rough patch of late, picking up just a single victory in his past three contests. Both fighters are currently 1-1 under the AFC banner.

The bad blood between KMA Top Team’s Corey Nelson (14-4-1) and submission ace Rick Alchin (6-7) is sure to have fans on the edge of their seats too. What started as a simple grappling contest has quite simply turned into pure hatred, with both fighters genuinely revealing their dislike for one another.

Nelson, a stablemate of recent ONE FC signee Martin Nguyen, is riding on a six-fight win streak with 75% of his victories coming via stoppage. Nelson’s striking background has given him so much confidence, that the Australian fighter has offered to give up a percentage of his fight purse if he can’t finish Alchin via knockout.

Gracie Central Coast’s Alchin has an impressive six submission victories in his career and has displayed a well-rounded facet in his pro MMA bouts. The Australian will be looking for some consistency starting with Nelson on February 22nd, having experienced a Jekyll and Hyde run thus far.

Aden Baron (1-0) vs. Joel Fisher (1-1) at Bantamweight, Aldin Bates vs. Matt McGuiness at 185-lbs, Light Heavyweights Jack Johns (1-1) vs. Daniel Almeida (7-3) and Kael Coster (1-0) vs. Scott Noras (1-0) at 170-lbs make up the rest of the fight card.

Be sure to keep it locked to MMASucka.com as we bring you more exclusives leading up to AFC 8 later this month.

As it stands, here’s a re-cap of the line-up below: