Melbourne is set to enhance its status as the sporting capital of the world by hosting a UFC title fight later this year.
Up to 70,000 fans are expected to attend UFC 193 at Etihad Stadium on November 15, with the event to be broadcast live to the US on pay-per-view.
UFC officials expect the fight to draw the biggest crowd ever for the sport, with the main drawcard being welterweight champion Robbie Lawler defending his title against former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit.
Several Australian fighters, including Melbourne’s Jake Matthews and four-time Olympic judo representative Daniel Kelly, will also feature in the event.
If you are a UFC nuffie, we have you covered with everything you need to know about UFC 193.
We had to change the law to allow this
To allow this event to take place, earlier this year the Victorian parliament passed legislation to allow fights to take place in cages as well as rings. Up until this point, a long-time ban had been in place in the state banning caged fights, with Sports Minister John Eren deciding the appeal of an international UFC bout was too good to pass on. Western Australia is now the only state in which UFC cage-fighting is still banned.
Etihad Stadium will host UFC 193. Image: FlickrCC – Adam Selwood
UFC is like ‘clean street fighting’ – in a cage
Staged in a caged-octagon arena, UFC fighting is a mix of martial arts, boxing, wrestling and any other contact sport you can think of. There aren’t many restrictions as to what you can’t do, meaning this sport is not one for the feint-hearted. It involves two competitors locked in the cage for a maximum of five five-minute rounds (championship fights). Non-championship events last a maximum of three rounds. There are currently nine different weight classes, with welterweight (170lb limit) the division on show in Melbourne.
There are rules, believe it or not
While cage-fighting is a brutal school that seems to have no limits, there are certain boundaries you cannot cross (although fighters do their best to cross them). Among the fouls listed by the Nevada State Athletic Commission are biting, eye-gouging, ‘fish-hooking’ (manipulating an opponent’s mouth with hands/fingers), groin attacks (which used to be legal in the old days), small joint manipulation, hair pulling, intentionally attempting to break an opponent’s bone, head-butting and my personal favourite, grabbing the clavicle.
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How does one win a fight?
There is a 10-point system in place for all UFC fights, with three judges scoring each round and the winner of each receiving 10 points, the loser receiving nine or fewer. Scores of 10-8 are typically awarded for dominant rounds, and anything more dominant is scored less.
Matches may end via:
- Submission: fighter gives in to his opponent by clearly tapping the mat or opponent, and/or verbally submitting defeat
- Judges’ decision: The match may end via a unanimous (ALL judges agree on winner), majority (2/3 judges agree on winner, 1 judge scores a draw), split (2/3 judges agree on winner, 1 judge scores a win for the other fighter), or technical decision. The match can also be drawn.
- Disqualification/Forfeit
- And of course … the KO!
Ronda Rousey is not coming to Melbourne (sad face)
Much to the dismay of UFC and sports fans in Melbourne, Ronda Rousey will NOT be one of the prized UFC fighters to travel to Australia in November. Despite being rumoured to be on the card, Rousey is reportedly being saved by the UFC for a larger event in December at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas, where she will join male UFC icon Conor McGregor on the same card.
She is undoubtedly the queen of UFC fighting and perhaps one of the hottest sporting properties in the world at the moment, with her last four fights having the combined duration of 140 seconds. Not only an icon in the UFC world, Rousey has also appeared in several films and on the cover of Sports Illustrated, firming her status as a dominant, international athlete.
Her last fight against Bethe Correia (below) lasted just 34 seconds, and that was one of her longer days at the office.
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