Despite calls for Alexander Volkanovski to be given the keys to the city of Wollongong after he defended his UFC featherweight championship for a fifth consecutive time, the local mayor is fighting back because UFC condones violence.
Volkanovski pushed his case as the greatest ever in the division with a TKO victory over Mexican and interim champion Yair Rodriguez at Las Vegas last weekend.
Wollongong has a long history of handing the keys to the city to sports stars, artists and note-worthy locals but Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery has picked a fight with Volkanovski’s fans over the push for him to receive the honour.
Swimmer Emma McKeon, motorcycle champion Wayne Gardner, Olympic marathon runner Kerryn McCann, motor neurone disease researcher Professor Justin Yerbury and singer Anthony Warlow are among the names who have been bestowed with the keys to the city.
(Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
Bradbery told the ABC that he had “a responsibility as the lord mayor of the city and as a responsible human being not to endorse those things which are violent”.
“You can decorate it as much as you like but UFC is a violent activity. It is against everything we stand for in our community in terms of violence and promoting violence.”
Wollongong MP Paul Cully has written several letters to Bradbery urging him to reconsider his controversial stance.
Volkanovski now trails only former champion Jose Aldo’s seven on the score of featherweight title defences and has been undefeated in the division for almost seven years.
“I’m the champ. I’m the king of this division. No one was ever stopping me,” Volkanovski said following the fight.
The Australian has dominated the featherweight scene since beating former champion Max Holloway for the first time in December 2019.
His 11th straight win in the division places Volkanovski ahead of Aldo for the fourth-most in 145-pound history – but with a more dominant 26-2-0 record than the three above him – while his winning streak sits behind only Holloway’s 13 in the division’s history.
The bout in Las Vegas was his first fight since a loss by unanimous decision to lightweight champion Islam Makhachev in February. That ended Volkanovski’s 22-fight winning streak, while Rodriguez became interim-champion the same night with a win over Josh Emmett.
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