CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
After months of waiting for Australian MMA fans, UFC President Dana White has today announced a trio of headline fights that will be taking place next month at UFC 293 in Sydney.
And much like the people of Sydney, the line up of fighters features an eclectic mix of weirdos from a vast number of different nations.
In the main event of the evening, Dana White has announced that the eccentric Kiwi Israel Adesanya will defend his middleweight title against Californian Sean Strickland. Adesanya was expected to fight either Strickland or the South African contender Dricus du Plessis.
However, after his career-defining knockout win over Alex Pereira at UFC 287, ‘The Last Stylebender’ was informed that he will be taking on the American, as the African white boy undergoes surgery.
Former interim flyweight title challenger Kai Kara-France begins the road to another title run as he is pitted against Portuguese fighter Manel Kape – while the co-main event belongs to the homegrown heavyweight Bam Bam Tuivasa.
A former Sydney Roosters junior Tuivasa will face Alexander Volkov, in what Dana White predicts will be an old fashioned slugfest.
Tuivasa, who had also worked as a back-up dancer for the iconic Justice Crew dance troupe before taking up mixed-martial arts several years ago, has seen eight UFC wins – seven of which have come via knockout.
Dan White has also confirmed today that this fight night will be taking at the medium-sized Qudos Bank Arena in Western Sydney live sports precinct made famous by the 2000 Olympics.
Several other venues had been previously flagged as potential hosts for UFC 293, including: the Sydney Opera House, Leichhardt Oval – as well as a one-off outdoor boxing ring on Bondi Beach.
However, due to Sydney’s strict licensing laws and oversupply of pointless stadiums that sit empty for 90% of the year, the list was eventually narrowed down to two.
“We are going with Qudos Arena” said Dana White.
“It was between that and the car park of the Mean Fiddler Hotel in Rouse Hill. Both two iconic venues for combat sports”
“I really wanted the Mean Fiddler, but it looked like we were going to have issues with ticketing. The only seats in the vicinity are bolted in front of poker machines. The rest of the fans would have to stand around on the asphalt while our fighters got stuck into it in a ring made up of parked cars”
“But we thought we better do this one indoors. I was advised by Australian MMA experts that Bam Bam would have too much of an advantage fighting in the car park of a Western Sydney pub.”
“He’s too familiar with unorthodox venues like this one. We’ve had to go with a neutral ground”
