Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

No, I'm not going to get political. I'm not going to bag out Colin Barnett. He had his views and that was it. But us on the other side, us UFC and mixed martial arts fans, weren't going to sit down. I started the www.ufcforperthnow campaign and received thousands of signatures. I worked with fellow supporters at the pubs on the weekends. It was a trudge, but I put myself through it, going to many pubs in Perth and the suburbs, so I could to get the support of the UFC fight fans to get this magnificent sporting event to WA.

I won't get in trouble for this because every West Aussie knows how passionate I am about the UFC and getting it to Perth. Listen to this, Senator Cash, this might rock you. There was not one black T-shirt or tattoo left in the suburbs. They were all at the Perth Arena. And what a magnificent event we had. That's true: there was not one black T-shirt or tattoo left. They were all there, and all my supporters as well. Channel 9 says that the coverage went to about 14 million globally. For our great state of Western Australia—no matter who's in government—it brought in some $3.6 million on the sales just as a start.

I really have to thank Peter Closko. He is the UFC guru of Australia. Peter and I met four years ago. Peter, thank you so much, mate, for your undying effort, and your professionalism, to do whatever you could to get this magnificent event to WA. We proved that we're just as passionate as the Victorians. I was at the UFC event in Victoria. I paid my own way. I went there and watched Holly Holm knock out Ronda Rousey. There were 56,000 people. I reckon us West Aussies would have put 56,000 people into the Perth Arena should there have been enough space.

I have to say to those who are so anti UFC and MMA that the beauty of living in Australia is that you can be—us fight fans love it. One of the criticisms was the ratbags that might come to the UFC events—not that there's any ratbags at the Eagles games! I wouldn't suggest that for one minute! There were three people evicted. I saw one pour soul getting frogmarched out. He just took his medicine and left. There were a lot more people outside, who I was talking to, who were trying to find out if they could buy tickets. Unfortunately, there were none left. They had gone. In closing, I was told today that, sadly, there were more evictions at the Neil Diamond concert. (Time expired)