Melbourne politicians want Octagon girls banned from UFC 243

When the UFC returns to Melbourne, Australia for UFC 243, it will bring top fighters like Robert Whittaker, Israel Adesanya, Holly Holm, Raquel Pennington, Dan Hooker and Al Iaquinta along with it. Yet if a one Melbourne-based politicians has their way, the promotion will not bring its beloved Octagon girls to The Land Down Under.

Melbourne Mayor Sally Capp shared her grievances surrounding the UFC’s Octagon girls with The Herald Sun, reminding that other sports have done away with similar roles — such as Formula One and Professional Darts.

“It’s 2019, do we really still need scantily-clad women to wander around the middle of a fighting ring between rounds?” Capp queried with respect to UFC 243 and the Octagon girls (via MMA Mania). “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.”

As of yet, the UFC has not addressed this complaint from Melbourne’s Mayor. Neither have any of the UFC Octagon girls. That being said, it seems unlikely that the promotion will budge on this issue.

UFC 243 goes down on October 7 in Melbourne, Australia. It will be topped by a middleweight title fight between Australian undisputed champion Robert Whittaker and Kiwi interim champion Israel Adesanya. This main event showdown has been billed as the biggest fight in Oceanic history.

Here is the UFC 243 fight card as it currently stands:

UFC 243 Fight Card

Robert Whittaker vs Israel Adesanya – for the UFC middleweight title
Al Iaquinta vs Dan Hooker
Tai Tuivasa vs Sergey Spivak
Nadia Kassem vs Ji Yeon Kim
Luke Jumeau vs Dhiego Lima
Megan Anderson vs Zarah Farim Dos Santos
Holly Holm vs Raquel Pennington
Jake Matthews vs Rostam Akman

Do you think it’s time to get rid of the UFC Octagon girls?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/10/2019.