Speaker 1: So bare knuckle fighting was banned effective land Western Australia
Speaker 1: yesterday even though they started selling tickets, et cetera. And
Speaker 1: how did it go down with the promoters?
Speaker 2: Well, the commentators out of a job.
Speaker 1: Brett Benetti is a combat sports commentator and has been
Speaker 1: speaking on behalf of the promoters, both here in Australia
Speaker 1: and also overseas. Brett, good morning, good morning meals. Wouldn't
Speaker 1: you interesting?
Speaker 3: Do you say that that the sport actually hasn't been
Speaker 3: banned A permit hasn't been granted by the WA Combat.
Speaker 1: Sport Well, effectually that bans it from being conducted here,
Speaker 1: doesn't it? Not?
Speaker 3: Really? Because again you going underground now, I'm not going
Speaker 3: to go underground. There's no official statement yet. I've been
Speaker 3: speaking to the promoters of the BKFC and Knuckle Up Australia,
Speaker 3: which are the local promoters. Look, they'rekeen to work with
Speaker 3: the commission and a confident that the event can still
Speaker 3: go ahead on Saturday, July nineteen. When I say about
Speaker 3: permit today, I've been led to believe is the last
Speaker 3: day that any promotion for any combat sport can submit
Speaker 3: an application to the WA Combat Sports Commission. For the
Speaker 3: date of Saturday, July nineteen.
Speaker 1: Is there any possibility that it could be pushed back?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right. That's why I said that the sport
Speaker 3: hasn't been banned, a permit hasn't been granted, so they.
Speaker 1: Don't want it. Mate, they said that it doesn't meet
Speaker 1: the criteria. You've got to face it exactly the finding
Speaker 1: here of that nature.
Speaker 3: Well, when you say that again, the promotion can put
Speaker 3: forward to application. What requirements for the event do we
Speaker 3: need to provide to get the permit?
Speaker 2: I thought that from what I had seen undertaken here
Speaker 2: that the permit had I just got the impression that
Speaker 2: had already been granted. Given what had happened. I mean,
Speaker 2: it just seems like a giant backflip. And the government
Speaker 2: here has put it over to this organization and said, well,
Speaker 2: you deal with this. It's too hard for us.
Speaker 3: Well, they can't be seen to be knocking it back
Speaker 3: because they not only they supporting the UFC for example,
Speaker 3: they're funding it. And now and only a few weeks
Speaker 3: ago rita safiod Years at Jagan Square with Jack Della Madelina,
Speaker 3: Purse's first UFC champion. A congratulations Jack, But this this
Speaker 3: whole rhetoric is like a cut and paste. You change
Speaker 3: the word from cage fighting to bare knuckle. It's like
Speaker 3: it's an easy job for the media and the politicians
Speaker 3: because they're just swapping words out and it's the same
Speaker 3: message that I and we had discussions about this years ago.
Speaker 3: It's exactly the same message, but it's a different form
Speaker 3: of combat sport.
Speaker 1: So were the promoters blindsided by the result yesterday? Were
Speaker 1: they expecting to get the tick of approval?
Speaker 3: Absolutely, because they put tickets on sale. But you know
Speaker 3: how I found out. I found out through Tracy, your producer.
Speaker 3: She contacted me at five pm on the Dot yesterday
Speaker 3: and that was the first I heard about. I contacted
Speaker 3: the promoters and they wanted to know how I found
Speaker 3: out so quickly. And the interesting thing, boys, is that
Speaker 3: nothing official in writing. It was a phone call to
Speaker 3: say that that it's been the permit's been knocked back
Speaker 3: for now and there's and there's been nothing official put
Speaker 3: in writing. Yet they wanted to know how I found
Speaker 3: out so quickly. So the medium might have found out
Speaker 3: before the promoters did. They found out a few minutes
Speaker 3: before I did.
Speaker 1: Connor McGregor, who doesn't have any introduction in this field.
Speaker 1: He's one of the part owners.
Speaker 3: I don't want to tell you what he thinks. The
Speaker 3: listeners who know Connor McGregor can imagine what he thought.
Speaker 3: But again, David Felban, the president of the BKFC, he's
Speaker 3: obviously very disappointed. I don't think he's come up with
Speaker 3: this sort of challenge anywhere across the world because they've
Speaker 3: been gone to different regions.
Speaker 2: So given that you have been dealing with them firsthand,
Speaker 2: what do you expect them to do about it?
Speaker 3: I expect them to resubmit a permit application today because
Speaker 3: again I've been led to believe from a fellow promoter
Speaker 3: that today is the last day if they want any promotion,
Speaker 3: wants that July nineteen date, and then work with the commission.
Speaker 3: What do we need to do as a promotion to
Speaker 3: bring the event to your satisfaction in your.
Speaker 1: Change, put gloves on that's not bare knuckle anymore.
Speaker 3: That's the funny thing about the argument, because again people
Speaker 3: are up in arms because not wearing gloves, but the
Speaker 3: boxing gloves, even though there's elements that protect the head.
Speaker 3: And again I go back to the same message that
Speaker 3: was around with the MMA when they called it cage
Speaker 3: fighting for example, but gloves are more to protect the hands,
Speaker 3: so and and there's more weapons and now the sports
Speaker 3: around for years.
Speaker 1: You're being optimistic, which is what you're paid to do.
Speaker 1: But they've got na hope of having it here. Is
Speaker 1: there a possibility that you could take the bare knuckle
Speaker 1: fights somewhere else in this country?
Speaker 3: Well, Beck Rawlans, who's a former UFC fighter who was
Speaker 3: slated to be in the co made event of this
Speaker 3: Perth event, has come out with disappointed calling uneducated. But
Speaker 3: I have to disagree because the educated people are the
Speaker 3: WA Sports Commission and the government are saying I'm not
Speaker 3: making the decision the Combat Sports Commission. But she believes
Speaker 3: that the event will go to Queensland. And again other
Speaker 3: states were chasing this Perth sort of one out over
Speaker 3: other states to get this event.
Speaker 2: So how do we win out? Did the government stump
Speaker 2: up any money? Do you know?
Speaker 1: Know?
Speaker 3: Again that they support provide funding for the UFC and
Speaker 3: the boxing with the George Cambo says Lamachenko fight last year,
Speaker 3: No funding has been provided, So it's all about sponsorship
Speaker 3: and being granted to put the event on an RC arena.
Speaker 1: So the Commission did put out a statement at four
Speaker 1: point fifty three yesterday afternoon. He's the reason for five
Speaker 1: minutes later. I'm a betting man, as you know. You
Speaker 1: got nah, I've ben knuckle fighting being here and this
Speaker 1: year maybe in the future. It took a while to
Speaker 1: get UFC up and running. You must remember that I
Speaker 1: didn't well there was always didn't Colin Barnett, and that
Speaker 1: say I don't want anything to do with that, and
Speaker 1: he took a change and that was.
Speaker 3: That was such a stupid decision.
Speaker 1: So therefore it took a while for it to be approved.
Speaker 3: No, it didn't all that. All Barnett did was ban
Speaker 3: the cage. The sport was always a year. Jack Della Maddelina,
Speaker 3: who is now the UFC welterweight Champion, his professional debut
Speaker 3: was in a boxing ring in Wa. The sport was
Speaker 3: always here. He did nothing except make the sport more unsafe.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, I'm going to argue because they very violent people,
Speaker 1: so people that had paid money, people that have paid money,
Speaker 1: and assuming you do, you're not going to permit will
Speaker 1: that all money be refunded?
Speaker 3: It has to be because it's the ploy of the man.
Speaker 3: But again they haven't given up hope, but they have
Speaker 3: to give reason.
Speaker 1: To We asked to talk to someone from the Commission.
Speaker 1: No one's available. We asked to talk to the Minister,
Speaker 1: not available. We asked to talk to the Premier. Not available.
Speaker 1: Not only us but our morning program.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: I know they had a big night last night at
Speaker 1: the soccer and they would have had a few sherbets.
Speaker 1: I understand that, but at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: surely someone's got to talk about it. They just can't
Speaker 1: put out a statement and just going hi. Someone needs
Speaker 1: to talk and put the other point of view across.
Speaker 3: I spoke to an official who didn't know too much
Speaker 3: because he wanted to work at the event. I've reached
Speaker 3: out to again the Combat Sports Commission. They've got some
Speaker 3: great people there over a number of years, but they
Speaker 3: haven't I haven't been able to reach anyone myself, and
Speaker 3: it's been very quiet. So what are the event requirements?
Speaker 3: Is still answers or questions that we need to get answered.
Speaker 1: All right, So it's not over yet. According to you
Speaker 1: will follow that with interest across the day. Brett, thanks
Speaker 1: for coming in, great to see and good luck with
Speaker 1: your career as a boxing and combat commentator of some
Speaker 1: renowned