Soa Palelei says the Octagon makes MMA fighting far more safe. Following Labor's win in the election, UFC Director of Operations in Australia Tom Wright said there were plans for an event in Melbourne in November with two world-titles on the line. He anticipated the sale of upwards of 50,000 tickets. "In the end I don't make the final decision, that's up to [UFC president] Dana White and [UFC owner] Lorenzo Fertitta," he said. "We have to plan these things, that's in our plans and we'll make formalised decisions and announcements in the next fortnight or so."

But an event for Perth seems highly unlikely in the near future, with both WA Labor and the state government coming out in opposition to the cage. Labor's position is particularly interesting. In January 2013, WA Labor's sports spokesman Mick Murray came out in opposition to the then-proposed ban by the state government. But Labor leader Mark McGowan said on Sunday that he would need a lot of convincing that competing in a cage was safer than in a traditional boxing ring. "We would treat the issue on its merits...I think we need to be very careful about reversing that ban, because we have too much violence in society and I don't like the idea that people might be encouraged to do violent activity or behaviour after watching cage fighting," he said. "Cage fighting involves the use of knees, legs, it strikes me as very, very violent and I'm concerned about the impact it has in spectators.

"We dont' have any plans to change our position, I'd need to see a lot of evidence before I did." The state government echoed Mr McGowan's comments, with Sports Minister Tuck Waldron saying the cage was banned in the best interests of the WA community. He said there had been some suggestions the use of the cage was safer but added the newness of that sport made such claims difficult to quantify. One fighter in a position to assess the safety of the cage is Perth's Soa "The Hulk" Palelei, who is signed with the UFC and tweeted a congratulations on Victoria's decision to his 144,540 twitter followers on Monday. With an MMA record of 22 wins and four losses, Palelei has fought both in the cage and in boxing rings and said there was no comparison when it came to safety.

"It comes down to education," he said. "In a ring, it's unsafe for MMA. You can fall out, I've seen guys fall out in events in Melbourne, it's dangerous and it's a long way to fall. "Having the Octagon keeps you in, it stops you from falling out. "It's watched all over the world and there's no link to street violence - that's caused by drugs and alcohol. If you're going to blame it on MMA blame it on kickboxing and boxing as well. "To compete in a UFC event in Perth would be an absolute dream for me but as it is that's just not going to happen."

Mr Wright said he would be interested in speaking to both major WA policitcal parties when he visited Australia, adding that WA was now the only state in Australia where MMA was legal but the cage was banned. "When the change that we anticipate happening in Victoria takes place, WA will not only be the only state but also the only jurisdiction in the world that allows MMA in a boxing ring but not in an octagon," he said. "I'm very much looking forward to sitting down with the new sports minister, whoever replaces [the retiring] Terry Waldron, during my next trip to Australia. "I look forward to arranging that meeting with whoever it might be, and we'll start the process. It's educational, there will be a new perspective on it from the new Minister and I hope we can dispel some of the myths associated with banning the Octagon." Palelei said he believed a reversal of the cage ban was inevitable given the global popularity of the UFC.

"It's a mainstream sport. Hopefully they're going to see 50,000 fans turn up to Etihad Stadium in November and realise that," he said. Follow WAtoday on Twitter