Australian flyweight Ben Nguyen will call for a UFC title shot if he beats Brazilian veteran Jussier Formiga at UFC 221 in Perth.

Thewest.com.au can reveal the UFC has booked the first two fights for its WA debut in February - and the stakes are high for two Australian rising stars.

Eighth-ranked Nguyen (18-6) will take on fifth-ranked Formiga (20-5) with the aim of clinching his third win in a row and 12th from his last 13 fights.

Sydney light heavyweight Tyson Pedro, 26, will fight Russian sambo champion Saparbek Safarov (8-1).

The UFC is working on a main event for Perth Arena, with a middleweight title unification bout between champion Georges St Pierre and Australian interim champion Robert Whittaker still a possibility.

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St Pierre said this week he was contractually obligated to fight Whittaker next.

Any card featuring the French-Canadian great would be one of the promotion's biggest of the year.

A win over Formiga will give Nguyen (18-6) a strong claim to a shot at champion Demetrious Johnson, who last defended his belt against a fighter riding a two-fight win streak.

Nguyen was born and raised in the US but he moved to Brisbane four years ago to live with his Australian wife.

He fought in a boxing ring in Perth in 2013 after the Octagon was banned, a decision he described as "ridiculous".

"I almost got pushed outside the ring defending a takedown," Nguyen said.

"I was sprawling on a takedown and my legs actually came out of the bottom of the ring."

Camera Icon Ben Nguyen has already had success on home soil in a UFC pay-per-view. Credit: AAPIMAGE

More softly spoken than most fighters, Nguyen was studying to be an engineer before he left college to chase his MMA dream.

An extensive taekwondo background has helped give him a striking edge over most opponents.

His last fight was his most impressive, a 49-second submission win against Tim Elliot who went the distance with Johnson in December.

Formiga, 32, is a submission specialist who has only lost to the elite.

"He's ranked right up there but I feel like I match up with him quite well," Nguyen said

"I’ve got a different style to the rest of the flyweight division."

While Nguyen is close to the summit of his division, Pedro's situation is more precarious.

His first taste of defeat came against Swedish powerhouse Ilir Latifi at UFC 215 in September.

Now 6-1 as a professional and 2-1 in the UFC, a loss against Safarov in Perth would halt his momentum and put him under serious pressure.

He will spend the next few months preparing for the 31-year-old Russian, who lost his UFC debut against Gian Villante in December in a Fight of the Night encounter.

Pedro said he felt he had something to prove after the loss.

"Something I was a little bit disappointed in was that I didn’t pull the trigger enough" Pedro said.

"He made adjustments that I didn’t account for and it threw me off."

Camera Icon Tyson Pedro is in a precarious position. Credit: AAPIMAGE

Q&A with Ben Nguyen

- Is this a fight you wanted?

“We’ve been chasing Formiga for a good couple of months now and we finally got the go-ahead about a week ago. We just feel like he’s the next step. He’s a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. He’s ranked right up there, but I feel like I match up with him quite well. I’ve got a different style to the rest of the flyweight division... He’s got a strong BJJ base and he’s pretty good on the feet. He’s got really good Muay Thai but I’ve spent a lot of time in Thailand. I feel like I’m going to be ready for his Muay Thai. I feel like my ground game is definitely underrated. A lot of people thought I was getting defeated by Tim Elliot in my last fight but I ended up choking him out.”

- Does fighting at the UFC’s first event in WA mean anything to you?

“I’m super excited to be on the first UFC ever in WA. It’s like being part of history. It’s like when I fought on the first UFC in Melbourne, that was a really fun card... The first time I was (in WA) I fought for a local promotion called K-Oz. I was the bantamweight champion there. We fought in a ring and I almost got pushed outside the ring defending a takedown. I was sprawling on a takedown and my legs actually came out of the bottom of the ring. There was a lot of controversy at the time with whole cage ban and how ridiculous it was. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. It was so backwards. It was just ridiculous. To finally get it changed over is refreshing.”

- You don’t go overseas to train - why is that?

“Seeing people like Robert Whittaker doing what he’s doing today and staying home in Sydney is really inspiring to see. It’s not about being at the super camps - it’s about having the right people.”

- Does your taekwondo background give you an advantage over more conventional strikers?

“I feel like the traditional martial arts are coming back. The taekwondo and karate and stuff. It’s giving it a new look... They’re used to fighting the boxers, the wrestlers but they’re not used to fighting the traditional martial artists. The distance is different, the footwork is different... I think MMA is turning more into a thinking man’s game. It’s becoming a lot more strategic. You saw GSP go out and beat Bisping. He spoke about how Bisping was weak on one side. He was setting up his takedowns on a certain side which I thought was spot on.”

- Can you beat Demetrious Johnson?

“I do feel like I could find out how to beat him. It’s just a matter of time and patience and waiting for that opportunity to come. He’s good at everything but there’s always a chink in the armour.”

- You’re very respectful in your approach to fighting. What’s your opinion on the trash talk in MMA?

“After the last UFC (UFC 217 in New York) it was amazing to see a lot of the more humble fighters come out on top. It was really refreshing to see and I feel like that’s the way that I want to take my approach to getting to the top, being that humble person.”