Video:
Script:
What struck me about the UFC’s operations is that they’re logistically efficient. They have two complementary days of events prior to the day of fights, that includes the pre-fight press conferences that draw much fanfare and build hype for the fights, as well as fighter meet and greets. The UFC brings non-competing UFC fighters for fans to “face off” against as well as a paid opportunity to ask other non-competitors questions. This is clearly a sound logistical move as these non-competitors are often there to support competing fighters, as was the case with Brazilians Charles Oliviera and Ciao Borralho. There is a day’s gap between these complementary events and fight day to get the arena ready. For those complementary days, the entire arena is hired out, with hundreds of staff on hand.
The fight card was very criticised for a lack of talent. The third highest fight on the card featured an Australian fighter coming off a much maligned unanimous decision loss with a seven win four loss MMA record who got knocked out within 40 seconds, while the fourth highest fight featured an Australia fighter coming off three losses and a draw - he drew again at UFC 312. It’s clear that the UFC struggled to lure higher profile fighters to compete at the event - main card headliner Sean Strickland stated that it’s because of the punishing tax the fighters have to pay out of their purse.
Featherweight champion Alex Volkanovski was at the fan Q and A and lives 1.5 hours away from Sydney while a championship competitor in his weight class in Diego Lopes who has called out Volkanovski recently for a fight was at the fan meet and greet. Israel Adesanya from New Zealand was at the fights but he was allocated to fight a Frenchman in Saudi Arabia the previous weekend. Fan favourite Tai Tuivasa was at the fan Q and A’s but admitted he needed to “get to the gym”, so the UFC must be failing to coerce him into training for a large event like the Sydney Pay Per View, which required fans to spend sixty Aussie dollars to watch the main card which features the top six fights.
Attending the fights was expensive - $630 at the very minimum to sit with someone you know per ticket around the time the tickets were first released. The event hauled in $7.7 million in ticket sales according to UFC President Dana White, but there’s no mention of a sell out. Seats in the VIP section close to the cage looked at about 60% capacity.
I have reported previously about the abuse and neglect commonplace in many Sydney region combat sports gyms. I tried out around 15 between 2021 and 2023, staying no longer than six months at any one gym as I was either denied progress to spar or was shouted at for stupid reasons like breaching cleanliness codes by pointing my feet at a trainer or stepping on a mat for a few seconds with shoes on, or even having the gall to criticise Volkanovski’s head trainer Joe Lopez quality of training when he asked me why I wanted to leave a session early. In speaking to Steve Norris, Strategic Communications Manager at the Combat Sports Authority, he didn’t want to listen to my evidence of trainee mistreatment that I had faced. So the regulator is prepared to limit the activity of combat sports participants, but did not want to address the problems that it causes. This dysfunction, combined with the overbearing regulation and taxation that the government imposes on potential competitors in the MMA training scene, might contribute to the underwhelming pool of big name Australian fighters.
Another taxpayer funded institution, Destination NSW, is tight lipped when it comes to its dealings with its constituents, despite spending $265 million of our money in the 2023 financial year and barely recouping 200 million of those dollars. Having spoken to three staffers, none of them could reveal how much taxpayer money Destination NSW had given the UFC for it to come to Sydney. Media reports state it’s $5.5 million per UFC event. The staffer told me to go through the “proper channels” to find answers by being part of a media corps. This poor customer service would be tolerable if New South Wales citizens could easily engage with a competing service for where their hard earned money is going, but the NSW Government has a monopoly on this pseudo business, punishable by theft through fines or imprisonment if the tax isn’t paid. In this sense the UFC grifted off the NSW taxpayer, as there is a perception that the tax is going to good causes - but shouldn’t individuals retain their wealth and decide where it goes themselves?
Comentários