UFC executive Dave Shaw stated he is not concerned about the unsatisfactory ticket sales for the UFC Perth tournament.
At Friday`s pre-fight press conference, Shaw stood in for Dana White, who was unable to travel to Australia.
As expected, Dave Shaw was questioned about reports regarding the low demand for tickets for the event, whose main event will be a light heavyweight bout between Carlos Ulberg and Dominick Reyes.
Projections indicate that the RAC Arena might only be half-full when UFC Perth commences on Sunday morning local time.
Dave Shaw Defends UFC Perth
When directly asked about concerns regarding ticket sales for UFC Perth, Dave Shaw replied:
“Not at all,” he said, before elaborating on his company`s past successes in Australia.
“Listen, from the very beginning, we`ve played the long game. We are building long-term relationships with Australia. We were first here in 2010 with UFC 110. We opened an office, playing the long game, in 2014 when the UFC Australia office in Sydney was opened, and in 2015, we held the biggest event in UFC history with Ronda [Rousey] and Holly [Holm] in Melbourne. We overturned the ban on the octagon here in 2017. We had a `Fight of the Year` in 2023 with your boy (Alexander Volkanovski) and Islam (Makhachev). We will continue to play the long game in Australia.”
“We know that you are a sports-mad country, and for us, you often hear Dana talk about how MMA will become the biggest sport in the world. Our viewpoint on Australia as one of the main markets we visit every year is that this will become a huge sport in this country.”
“This is also a pretty special tournament. I mean, think about us having more regional athletes, more Australian and New Zealand athletes here than ever before. We have the first female athlete from New Zealand. We also have the first fighter from Adelaide competing at this tournament.”
“It`s really important for us to build the future in terms of quality athletes. I guarantee, someone from this tournament will be the next Jack Della (Maddalena) – and that`s what we are investing in.”
The journalist reiterated his question, to which Shaw insisted: “We do not see any issues with this event.”
Full UFC Perth Card
- Carlos Ulberg vs Dominick Reyes
- Jimmy Crute vs Ivan Erslan
- Jack Jenkins vs Ramon Taveras
- Jake Matthews vs Neil Magny
- Justin Tafa vs Louie Sutherland
- Tom Nolan vs Charlie Campbell
- Navajo Stirling vs Rodolfo Bellato
- Cameron Rowston vs Andre Petroski
- Jamie Mullarkey vs Rolando Bedoya
- Colby Thicknesse vs Josias Musasa
- Michelle Montague vs Luana Carolina
- Brando Pericic vs Elisha Ellison
- Loma Lookboonmee vs Alexia Thainara
