Sports

UFC Octagon Girls are under political attack

The much-loved Octagon Girls could be banned from a UFC event in Australia next month after a politician claimed the tradition was “outdated.”

Similar to boxing, mixed martial arts deploys scantily clad females to parade around the cage before each round at their events. That has led to the likes of Chrissy Blair, Brittney Palmer, Arianny Celeste and Jhenny Andrade becoming huge favorites with fight fans across the globe.

However, ahead of UFC 243 at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on Oct. 6, Dana White’s promotion is facing calls for the “sexist and backward” custom to be axed.

And Lord Mayor of Melbourne Sally Capp is leading the charge.

“It’s 2019, do we really still need scantily clad women to wander around the middle of a fighting ring between rounds?” Capp told the Herald Sun. “Grid girls are no longer part of Formula One, walk-on girls are no longer part of professional darts — surely it’s time to move on.”





Capp is receiving plenty of support in her quest to put the Octagon Girls out of work.

A spokesperson for Victorian premier Daniel Andrews said: “The Grand Prix did the right thing in ending the use of grid girls and we encourage other events to make similar moves.”

The attempted stand against UFC comes after ring girls were barred for a bumper boxing event last weekend.

Octagon Girls travel the world with UFC and reportedly earn around $25,000 a year for their part-time work with the promotion, with many going on to secure modeling contracts and other TV work.

UFC 243 is headlined by middleweight Robert Whittaker defending his 185-pound belt against interim title holder Israel Adesanya in a five-round championship bout next month at Marvel Stadium.





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Filed under australia , ufc , 9/11/19