Opinion
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was formerly seen as a gladiatorial-style ordeal, with considerable qualms regarding fighter safety and the sport’s overall brutality. However, as society evolves into a group that craves ultimate sporting challenges, so does the UFC.
The UFC is already in the conversation for the top sports leagues in the world, thanks to the global appeal of fighters such as Conor McGregor and Israel Adesanya. This growth in popularity has been seen worldwide, but no other part of the world can match the recent attraction amassed in the Oceanic region.
The current Featherweight and Pound for Pound champion is our very own Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski, who has amassed a 25–1 MMA record and successfully defended his title three times against Max Holloway, who was once considered the greatest Featherweight ever to do it.
But Volkanovski isn’t the only home-grown fighter doing our region proud.
Local legend Tai Tuivasa has quickly become one of the most popular fighters in the sport, stringing together a series of skilful knockouts despite his frame and height being considered a disadvantage in the heavyweight division.
Tuivasa went to war in September against the No.1 contender in the Heavyweight division, Ciryl Gane, a 6 ft. 4 beast with the sport’s ideal Heavyweight physique. Although Tuivasa did not end up getting the win, the pair produced what many considered the fight of the year, and his performance encapsulated the true grit and determination associated with the region.
This factor is one of the reasons why Australia and New Zealand host some of the world’s best fighters. Many Australians do not claim Kiwis, but because of our strong relationship with our brothers over the ditch, there is a lot to be said about the fighting standard created in the Oceanic region.
In addition to Tuivasa and Volkanovski, Australia and New Zealand are home to a slew of established and upcoming stars. This includes Israel Adesanya, the Middleweight champion and the world’s second-best pound-for-pound, the ‘Grim Reaper’ Robert Whittaker, the No.1 contender in the Middleweight division, and Kai Kara France, a young Kiwi who has burst onto the Flyweight scene with a flurry of picturesque knockouts over former superstars.
Robert Whittaker punches Israel Adesanya in their middleweight championship fight during UFC 271. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Along with these high-ranked stars, we have fighters like Dan Hooker, who is known among fans as the unofficial BMF, after competing against some of the world’s best fighters, including current Lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and lightweight all-time great Dustin Poirier.
Dan was the first of the Oceanic stars to ascend through the ranks and garnered a strong fan base, owing to his tenacity saw him fighting only three weeks after going to battle for three rounds.
As of November 2022, the Oceanic region is the home to two UFC champions, a number that only the United States and Brazil share. Unlike these other countries, Australia does not claim any martial art as their own, and it is evident in the ability and number of Oceanic superstars that their grit is what helps them tip the judges’ scorecards.
The common perception that Australia and New Zealand is a place of ‘battlers’ is personified through our UFC fighters and given both countries’ small population sizes, per capita Australia, and New Zealand, are producing the most champions and top-five fighters in the sport, a feat which can be accredited to this idea of Oceanic grit.
As mass appeal continues to rise for the sport around the world, these athletes have brought the sport home, re-establishing Australia’s reputation of being one of the world’s greatest sporting nations.
Without a doubt, the UFC is on the rise and appears to be getting even bigger. Because of these super athletes produced on the beaches of Wollongong, near the harbours of Auckland, and on the streets of western Sydney, the mass appeal of the UFC continues to grow as it is exceeding all expectations and establishing itself as one of the most entertaining, competitive, and popular sports in the world.
Due to the competitiveness of Aussies and Kiwis, of course, we want to take the sport by storm, and that is what we’ve done, proving again and again that the true grit of our Oceanic culture pays off in every element of sport.
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