Australia's Kyle Noke meets Dominique Steele at UFC Fight Night 101 in Melbourne

The UFC’s November return to Australia continues to grow with the addition of a welterweight fight to the lineup featuring a home-country fan favorite.

Australia’s Kyle Noke (22-9-1 MMA, 6-5 UFC) has made his way to the UFC Fight Night 101 card and will take on American Dominique Steele (14-8 MMA, 1-3 UFC), the promotion today announced.

UFC Fight Night 101 takes place Nov. 26 (Nov. 27 in Australia) at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The event airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.

After a stretch that saw him win three of four fights in his return to welterweight, including a bonus-winning TKO of Peter Sobotta at UFC 193 this past November in Australia, Noke is on a skid with back-to-back losses. The “TUF 11” veteran dropped a split decision to Alex Morono at UFC 195 in January, and in July was submitted by Keita Nakamura with one second left in the second round at UFC Fight Night 91.

Noke has had consecutive losses one other time in his pro career – and he bounced back in a big way with a 45-second TKO of Charlie Brenneman at UFC 152 in September 2012, which was his return to welterweight after going 3-2 in the UFC’s middleweight division. The UFC’s cards in Noke’s home country mostly have been good to him – he’s 3-1 in UFC fights in Australia with just a decision loss to Andrew Craig in Sydney in 2012 keeping him from perfection.

Dominique Steele

Steele may be fighting with his UFC career on the line. He debuted with the promotion at UFC on FOX 16 in July 2015 on the strength of seven wins in eight fights, but was stopped by a second-round TKO against Zak Cummings. He rebounded nicely with a bonus-winning slam knockout of “Maestro” Dong Hyun Kim in South Korea later that year.

But in 2016, he has back-to-back decision losses to Danny Roberts and Court McGee at UFC 197 and UFC Fight Night 92, respectively. Helping ease the sting of those consecutive setbacks, at least, is the fact his loss to Roberts in April came with a “Fight of the Night” bonus award, giving him two $50,000 extra checks in his four fights with the promotion.

With the addition, the latest UFC Fight Night 101 card includes:

• Luke Rockhold vs. Ronaldo Souza
• Derek Brunson vs. Robert Whittaker
• Chris Camozzi vs. Daniel Kelly
• Andrew Holbrook vs. Jake Matthews
• Jonathan Meunier vs. Richard Walsh
• Kyle Noke vs. Dominique Steele

For more on UFC Fight Night 101, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.