Mixed martial arts is the fastest growing sport in the world, thanks in no small part to the efforts of the UFC. What was once labelled as ‘human cockfighting’ and banned in several U.S. states has now become a global phenomenon.
The Las Vegas-based UFC has held events in places such as Canada, the UK and Brazil. Australia has also played host to several UFC events, with the next one set to take place in Brisbane on December 7.
With fight cards now a regular staple on pub televisions, the sport has boomed in Australia in recent years.
Tom Wright is the Director of UFC Operations in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. When asked why the promotion continues to come back to our shores, he said, “We’ve got great fans (in Australia), we’ve got great athletes and this is a great sports country.”
Yet for all its popularity, there are still some parts of the nation that have yet to embrace the sport fully.
In Victoria and Western Australia, the use of a fenced enclosure for mixed martial arts competition is illegal. The problem arises with the UFC’s eight-sided fenced arena, known as ‘The Octagon’.
It’s a legislative issue the UFC has faced countless times before, and one the organisation continues to rally for.
Wright says the word ‘cage’ may be detrimental to the sport’s progress.
“I just disagree with (the word) completely because you never refer to Muhammad Ali as a ‘ring fighter’, he was a boxer.
“Georges St. Pierre is a mixed martial artist and he competes in an Octagon, in a fenced-in enclosure.
“The challenge with the term ‘cage’ is that it’s a negative term.”
According to Wright, the problem lies with the common vernacular in Australia.
“I’ve never liked (the term ‘cage’), I don’t think it’s indicative of what our sport is all about.
“It’s part of the vernacular here and I’m working to try and change that.”
A veteran of the sports industry, Wright knows that change won’t happen overnight.
“It takes patience, it takes diligence, it takes providing the objectivity and the fact-based arguments to the individuals who are in charge of making those decisions and we’ll continue to fight that fight.”
Wright stated this is an issue neither he nor the UFC will budge on until fenced-in enclosures are legal all across Australia.
Will we see a UFC event in Melbourne or Perth anytime soon? Here’s hoping.
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