The Minns government is in negotiations with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to extend its $16 million deal with the sport, despite criticisms from women’s safety advocates and anti-violence campaigners over its promotion of the event.
Premier Chris Minns appeared on Thursday with UFC Australia vice president Peter Kloczko and Australian fighter Alexander Volkanovski to announce the second of three events, first announced by Labor before the state election in 2023, will go ahead in Sydney next February.
NSW Premier Chris Minns gave a strident defence of his government’s decision to spend $16 million dollars bringing the UFC to Sydney. Credit: Janie Barrett
The deal – under which the government will provide $16 million to the UFC for the three events – has proven controversial with women’s groups including Domestic Violence NSW and Full Stop Australia due to the sport’s violent nature.
Ahead of the first Sydney event in September last year US fighter Sean Strickland made a series of sexist remarks including that women “don’t need to work, they need to stay home and raise a family” during a press conference in front of a NSW government logo.
In the lead-up to the event he wrote on social media: “I’m in Sydney and I thought I’m going to be surrounded by dirty liberalS [sic]. Gay and trans flags everywhere … Literally zero .. maybe America is the problem lmao!”
Minns at the time described those comments as “obnoxious and objectionable”, but has continued to trumpet the deal. The funding for the organisation has also been attacked by the Coalition.
Conor McGregor takes on Dustin Poirier in a UFC lightweight fight at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi in 2021.Credit: Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said the premier’s support for the UFC was “tone-deaf”, criticising Minns for “hosting an event [which] women’s safety advocates have warned glorifies violence”.
Phillip Ripper, chief executive of No to Violence, the peak body working with men to end family violence, said he hoped the government incorporated “careful and consistent messaging” over the event. On the one hand, he said, research suggested combat sports could “influence some fans to believe that violent masculinity equals strength and power and leads to success”.
But, he said, “the majority of combat sports fans are not violent and do not mean harm towards others”.
“With people from a range of backgrounds, postcodes and cultures following combat sports, players, coaches and administrators have incredible potential to influence positive behaviours in the broader community,” he said.
Minns, an avowed fan, defended his government’s promotion of the UFC, pointing to Volkanovski, an ex-concreter turned professional fighter who has also written children’s books, as “one of our greatest Aussie athletes” and a “fantastic role model”. Mixed martial arts, he said, promoted “healthy lifestyles”.
UFC fighters Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland face off ahead of their middleweight fight in September 2023.Credit: Edwina Pickles
“Now, I know the critics will dismiss that … they’ll throw up statistics or individual personalities or retired fighters, but the truth is that it’s very difficult for governments to get through to young men in particular, about positive relationships, healthy lifestyles, and people like [Volkanovski] behind me live their life in a disciplined way where they give back to their community, and they genuinely care about their sport,” he said.
“I think it’s too easy and too dismissive to throw the UFC and mixed martial arts out as some kind of nefarious activity for young people when the overwhelmingly majority experience for this sport has been positive. I promise that’s the case. I’ve been a fan for a long time.”
He pointed to a deal between the UFC and PCYC in NSW which was “hugely important” in introducing “positive influences” into the lives of young men.
“[It will be] a positive one, far more than a government ad campaign or me as premier preaching from a lectern,” he said.
About 10,000 people travelled from interstate or overseas for the event in Sydney in September 2023, which the government said injected an estimated $15.3 million into the state’s economy. That figure was 50 per cent more than the return originally estimated by Destination NSW, according to the government.
“As a result of the second and then the third event taking place in Sydney, those numbers are only going to go up. So we regard this as a fantastic investment from our government,” Minns said.
The government is in negotiations with UFC to extend the agreement, multiple sources speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Herald.
When he was asked if the government would seek to attract more fights, Minns did not confirm it but said: “I think so, but that’s a commercial arrangement.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732. Full Stop Australia 1800 FULL STOP or 1800 385 578. In an emergency, call 000.
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