Every fighter dreams of a triumphant UFC debut, but for Wesley Schultz, the path to victory at UFC Perth was anything but smooth. The man they call "Party Time" walked into the Octagon with unwavering confidence, even when the odds seemed stacked against him.

Making his promotional debut against Ben Johnston, Schultz found himself on the back foot early. Johnston, a key member of Israel Adesanya's training camp and a seasoned grappler in his own right, dominated the first two rounds on the scorecards. Schultz's submission attempts came up empty as Johnston's ground game proved stifling. For ten minutes, the Aussie had all the answers.

Then came Round 3, and everything changed.

With the fight slipping away, Schultz dug deep and locked in a slick guillotine choke that turned the tide. The pressure was so intense that Johnston was forced to spit out his mouthpiece just to breathe. As referee Rich Mitchell calmly returned the mouthpiece, Schultz cranked up the pressure even further. Johnston had no choice but to tap, handing Schultz a dramatic come-from-behind victory.

"I made a lot of mistakes, but that makes for fun fights," Schultz admitted in his post-fight interview. "I could hear my coaches, mentally I was focused, but physically I was out of focus. They told me to get up, and I just didn't want to work that hard. I kept thinking, 'I'm gonna get the neck at some point.' I tried four or five times. I was lucky it worked—otherwise, that would have been 25 hours of flying home thinking about how bad I did."

The win marks Schultz's first in the UFC after a rocky start to his promotional career. The 9-3 fighter, who has finished six of his nine wins via submission, suffered a first-round knockout loss in his organizational debut this February. But his resilience paid off in Perth, proving that sometimes persistence is the key to victory.

For Johnston, the loss was a bitter pill to swallow. The 35-year-old, who hadn't fought since 2024 while focusing on coaching, accepted the short-notice fight looking to make his own UFC debut memorable. A key figure in Israel Adesanya's camp—helping "The Last Stylebender" prepare for his UFC 287 knockout win over Alex Pereira—Johnston showed flashes of brilliance but ultimately couldn't hold off Schultz's relentless submission game.

Schultz's victory is a testament to the fighter's creed: never give up, even when the first two rounds don't go your way. As he celebrates his first UFC win, "Party Time" knows there's work to be done—but for now, he's proven that patience and persistence can turn any fight around.